Who is Dr Spencer Reid
by Dextolan
Summary: Spencer has a big secret. The team start to notice that Reid is hiding something from them; something big...and dark. Will they discover the secret before its too late for their resident genius?
1. Somethings wrong

**(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or it's characters)**

 **Yes! I've been working this story for some time now, I've been trying to get organised. This idea has been going around and around my mind and I thought it was time to make something of it.**

 **its felt like ages since I started a new story, so I'm super excited!**

 **I hope you guys like reading it as much as I've loved writing it! Please tell me what you thought in the reviews.**

 **Chapter updates should be once every two days unless I'm feeling organised. And for anyone reading 'The Storm' or 'What if', don't worry I haven't forgotten, my co-author is working on the next chapter of the storm.**

 **I really need to publish this because I am falling asleep while checking for errors! ;D**

* * *

Morgan spun around on his chair, looking at the clock and smirking. Reid was half an hour late and he couldn't wait to dig into the kid.

"Hey, Morgan, those files won't get done with you gawking like that", laughed Emily, shaking Derek from his thoughts.

"Aw, come on Prentiss, when is Reid ever late?"

"Give him a break. Shall we count how often you're late?" JJ asked, her eyebrows raised.

"I'm just saying, it's not like him", Morgan surrendered.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear", Prentiss winked, nodding towards the glass doors. Reid stumbled through the door, pushing his hand through his... _short_ hair! Morgan had to do a double take. Reid's hair which had been down to his ears in messy curls was now short on the sides and back with a sprawl of noodle brown curls on top. Morgan also swore the kid's hair was darker than normal, _no way would he dye it,_ Morgan thought. Reid's messenger bag hung over his shoulder and his blue shirt and grey cardigan were typical Reid. But clearly, the kid had decided on a change for his hair.

"Uh...Spence?", JJ smirked at Reid as he took a seat and gave her an awkward smile.

"Nice haircut, Kid", Morgan complimented and Reid frowned before his face broke with realisation and he grinned.

"Thanks", he said, slinging his messenger bag onto the floor.

Reid's cell phone had also changed. Gone was the small flip up 10 year old phone. In its place was the latest model of the iPhone. Morgan looked at it enviously as Reid watched something on its screen a scowl on his brow. Suddenly and without warning, Reid slammed his phone onto the table, his teeth bared.

The agents in the bull pen looked up at him and he sheepishly hid his face in his hands.

"New phone and you're already trying to break it", laughed Morgan. Reid looked up his brow still furrowed, making Morgan pause.

"What's wrong, Pretty Boy?" Reid rubbed his palm into his eye and sighed.

"It's uh...it's my mom", he muttered sadly. He motioned to his phone, "I was reading an email. She's...she's not doing well", he admitted. Morgan's smile fell and he closed the gap between him and Spencer.

"I'm sorry, Reid", he put a hand on Spencer's shoulder. "Is there anything I can do to help?" He offered, but Reid shook his head, swallowing back his emotions.

"No, n-nothing you can do anyway... do we have a case?" he asked when Garcia broke into the conversation, revealing a handful of case files.

"Yes we do my little Boy Wonder an- Reid! Your hair!", she ruffled it, and surprisingly, Reid didn't pull away or even flinch. Morgan smirked at this.

"Since when do you let anyone touch you", Reid shrugged and pocketed his phone.

"Where is it Garcia?"

"It just so happens to be Vegas. You gonna visit your mom?" Reid shrugged again and made his way to the conference room.

"And since when does he shrug?" Morgan hissed. Garcia shrugged with a grin causing Morgan to roll his eyes.

They piled into the jet, choosing their seats and buckling in.

"What no books? What are you going to do for 4 hours?" Rossi was watching Reid who had been looking out the window.

"Discuss the case..." he mumbled, as if he was unsure.

"For 4 hours? No thanks", Morgan waved his headphones in the air. Hotch looked up from his case file as Morgan put the headphones over his ears.

"We _will_ be discussing the case as soon as we're in the air, so hold off on those." Morgan pulled the headphones off sulkily, folding his arms and waiting for the jet to take off.

Reid fidgeted with his fingers nervously, his eyes twitching at the sights out the window as the jet rolled along the runway. He tried to ease his breathing, but as the jet sped up, so did his heartbeat.

 _Calm down,_ he thought to himself, gnawing on the inside of his gum. _Don't make a scene._

When the jet was in the air he let out a small sigh of relief and glanced around; luckily no one had been watching him.

"Okay, 5 murders in Las Vegas within the last 3 weeks...", Reid felt himself zoning out as he read the words on the pages, he slowly flipped the page and looked around to see the others were already a page ahead of him. He gulped and flipped through the pages, taking none of it in. He rubbed his temples harshly.

"Each victim was killed using a method commonly associated with suicide. Victim one was hung, victim two overdosed, third had her wrists cut, the next fell from a bridge and the lastest had a single gunshot wound to her temple."

"Did the girls show any signs of being suicidal", questioned JJ.

"That's the thing, they were all happy and healthy. Just your average teenage girls", Garcia added from inside the laptop screen.

"Reid, What's the average suicide rate for teens in Vegas?" Hotch asked, knowing the question was far out, but with Reid no question was too far fetched.

Reid looked up from his file staring back at Hotch in bewilderment. "Huh", he squeaked.

"Do you have any statistics on suicide?" Rossi reiterated.

"Oh...uh...", Spencer looked around anxiously, his fingers returning to his temple. "No I don't", he said honestly, biting his gum. The jet was silent for a minute, before Morgan snorted.

"No statistics?" Morgan frowned, and yet again Reid shrugged, turning his focus back out of the window. Morgan watched him, his brow lowered, something felt off about the kid.

"Looks like we've finally stumped Pretty Boy", cheered Morgan. Reid shot him a glare and gazed back out of the window, avoiding Hotch's eyes burning into him.

"I don't know everything, Morgan", Reid growled. He returned his focus back to the window, leaning his chin on his palm.

The team exchanged a worried look amongst themselves, but decided to leave it, returning to the case files.

"When we get there, JJ and I will go to the latest crime scene, Emily, you and Rossi talk to the witnesses and Reid and Morgan, I want you to head to the police station, and be careful; they're wary of our presence and intervention on this investigation." Morgan snuck a look at Reid, who was scowling at the window.

* * *

"So, you're the agents?" An aggressive looking cop greeted Morgan and Reid. Morgan nodded, but Reid only glared back at him, like two savage dogs gnashing their teeth before a fight.

"Yes. Is there a room we could set up?", Morgan asked, keeping his voice calm.

"Pick one", grunted the cop, he was watching Reid with a smug smile. "He's not really a fed, right?"

"Yep, one of our best", retorted Morgan, giving the officer a dark look. The officer just stared Reid down a second more before turning.

"I see what Hotch was on about, looks like we won't be getting much help from them", Morgan sighed.

Reid stepped in front of him, leading the way to the conference room. "Asshole", he muttered as he passed Morgan. Morgan blanched slightly at what Reid had said, but after recovering he thought it best not to dwell.

* * *

Rossi and Emily arrived a little over an hour later.

"One of the witnesses has been brought in for questioning. His aliby isn't sound", Emily explained.

"He asked for his lawyer, so this is going to go down well", sighed Rossi, slumping into a chair beside Reid, who was tapping his pen rhythmically on the table, looking over the case files.

"Do you think he could be the Unsub?" Rossi gave Morgan a weary look.

"No. Not in my opinion anyway, but when we tried to explain that to the cops they just dismissed us and now we're wasting time dragging this out."

Emily stepped up to the board to examine the pins Reid had placed on the map.

"You guys find anything?" She asked.

"Not really, but we _have_ also been shown how welcome we are", grumbled Reid. "I swear If he calls me sk-", Reid was cut off from muttering under his breath. In the hour they'd been there, he'd been called skinny something over 12 times.

"What was that?" Rossi interrupted.

"Nothing. I just can't wait for this case to be over."

"Here here!" Morgan toasted sarcastically.

Voices rang out from the hall and a man in handcuffs was pulled in, followed closely by another man in a suit and tie.

"You have no reason to treat him this way. He can answer your questions..." the lawyer's voice got louder as the group passed the small conference room the BAU had squeezed into.

"Reid, isn't that your...?" Morgan started, his eyes following the lawyer in suit and tie.

"Yea", Reid breathed, reaching out for the door handle, although he didn't have to because as if by some parental sense, William Reid's head whipped around and his eyes met with Spencer Reid's. He stopped mid-step, his mouth agape, staring at his son. The atmosphere was tense in that moment, but when William was called, he closed his mouth and hurried after his client, looking back to Spencer.

Reid shook his head, _what were you expecting? A family reunion,_ he thought, feeling as if he could laugh at his own naivety.

"Reid?" Rossi asked cautiously.

"Let's focus on the profile", Reid said, changing the subject and returning to his seat. "I'm surprised he even recognised me after all these years," he added as an afterthought.

* * *

"Are we ready to deliver the profile?" JJ asked. She frowned at the map Reid had set up. He hadn't marked the possible future dumpsites, instead he'd pinned everything they already knew. He'd been sat in front of it ever since they'd all arrived. Luckily the suspect pool was pretty small. She'd had a feeling that this case would've been a short one; they'd dealt with similar unsubs, and from the proximity of each dumpsite, it was clear that this unsub wouldn't be leaving the area.

"Yes. They might as well have something to go off for now. Anything to add, Reid?" Hotch raised his eyes at Reid who looked up from the map and shook his head, giving a strained "no".

"Come on, Kiddo. What are you thinking?" Rossi asked. He too was suspicious of Reid's uncharacteristic quietness.

"Nothing."

"Seriously, Reid? Is it your brains day off or something? You have to have something", Emily urged. Reid stood up suddenly, knocking his chair back. He sighed angrily and grabbed his messenger bag.

"I said no", he spat, ignoring their shocked faces and storming from the room.

"What's up with him?" Emily queried.

"I don't think his mothers doing very well."

"Oh." Emily suddenly looked very guilty.

"If I had known I would've given him time off", Hotch frowned.

"Yes, but isn't Reid allergic to vacation", chuckled Rossi.

"Also, that one cop has been getting on his nerves. He keeps referring to him in derogatory terms and I could tell it was getting to him, and not to mention his father", Morgan added.

Said cop slunk by the glass door, looking in on them with disgust.

"I see what you mean."

"What about his father?" Hotch frowned.

"William Reid is here. He passed right by here, he even saw Reid, but he kept on walking. His client was brought in for questioning", Rossi filled in the gaps.

"Maybe we should go have a word with Mr Reid", Hotch suggested.

* * *

Reid kicked the wall hard, growling in pain. _Get a hold of yourself,_ his mind hissed. He sucked in a deep breath to try and stabilise his breathing. He was about ready to hit someone.

"Bad idea", he grunted, rubbing his head and making his way out of the alleyway. "Shouldn't have come to work...", he stepped back onto the road with his hands in his pockets.

* * *

The team finished delivering the profile when Reid came back. He gave them an awkward little wave, which gave the whole team a wave of relief that he seemed back to normal.

"How is that going to help us?" Reid paused upon hearing the unwelcoming cop whining to his partner. JJ rolled her eyes and made her way over, the team followed.

"We have a pretty good success rate", Rossi glowered at the young cop, who twirled around, his arms folded over his chest.

"Really? What about Tuscany? Or the one in Alabama last year? You weren't successful then," He argued smugly.

"Well you've done your research", Reid remarked sarcastically, which knocked not only the cop off, but also his team.

"The twig speaks!"

"How long did it take for you come up with that insult? Last time I heard that was in elementary school" The cop twitched angrily.

"Look, man, just let us get on with our job and you can get on with yours", Morgan offered, but the cop was seething.

"You look like you should still _be_ in school"

"Well I'd rather graduate early, than not graduate at all," Reid shrugged.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Sorry, I was trying to dumb it down as much as possible", that did it, the cop lunged out at Reid, but Spencer was too quick for him, he ducked and upon recovery smashed his knuckles hard into the cop's face, sending him sprawling to the ground. Hotch and Morgan pulled Spencer back and he didn't resist, he watched the man roll on the floor with a sadistic smile over his lips.

"REID!" Morgan gasped, shaking the younger agent, and the smile suddenly fell and he looked around shamefully.

"I doubt you could even shoot that gun", shouted the cop, holding his bloody nose. Reid straightened and glared at the officer.

"Would you like me to prove you wrong?" He hissed. Hotch pulled him away roughly.

"Reid!"

Reid glared at Hotch. But then suddenly his face dropped and he gazed down at his feet.

"Get a hold of yourself", Hotch hissed, and Reid swallowed thickly with a nod.

"What's this?" The Chief growled, looking down at his fallen cop and then over at the restrained agent.

"Little disagreement is all", Morgan mumbled.

"I'm sorry. Davidson has been involved in things like this before. I'm taking you off the case", he snapped at the cop, who struggled to his feet desperately.

"What!? No! Come on, Chief!" He begged. The Chief turned away from him.

"I'm pulling you from the case too, Reid", Hotch glowered at his youngest agent, waiting for a similar reaction from Reid as from the cop.

"It was provoked", Reid growled, but Hotch shook his head.

"No excuses, Reid. Go back to the hotel", Reid looked ready to give Hotch the same treatment that he'd given the cop. But he simply shrugged, took his bag and walked out.

"That was easy", Morgan snorted. _Too easy_ , thought Hotch.

"I'm sorry about that", Hotch apologised to the chief, who offered him a sympathetic smile.

"Don't sweat it. Davidson can be quite the asshole, but he gets the job done. We'll put out an APB on the profile you gave us", the Chief said, before taking his leave.

Hotch turned to Morgan.

"I've never seen Reid that riled up, let alone actually throwing a punch", Hotch muttered.

"Yea...he's dealing with some personal issues."

"I'm not excusing him for this. Emily could you check he got back to the hotel", Hotch ordered.

"I will," offered JJ.

"No, you'll need to talk to the media soon", she nodded and Emily grabbed her keys.

As she stepped out of the room William Reid tromped in. He glanced at the team and saw Reid missing. He carried on past them. Morgan blocked his path, his muscular arms folded.

"Excuse me, agent", William said calmly, avoiding Morgan's eyes.

"What are you doing here?", Morgan growled, staring at William in disgust.

"Doing my job."

"Did you know the FBI were working this case?" William shrugged. "I'm surprised you didn't bail on this case if you did know. Always the avoider", Morgan goaded.

"Yes, I knew. I'd hoped to see Spence-"

"You gave up the right to see him when you abandoned him", Morgan snapped, cutting William off mid sentence.

"I had good reason."

"Really? What was that? There isn't a good reason for leaving your child." William squirmed under Morgan's glower. Hotch knew it was his job to intervene, but he happily stood by to watch the neglectors tongue lashing.

"I'm not planning on going to see him. You don't have to worry", William muttered weakly.

"Why would I be worried by the likes of you", William finally looked up into Morgan's eyes. He shifted his gaze nervously.

"You think you know him", he murmured.

"I've been in his life longer than you have. So, yes, I think I do know him."

"I loved him... I still do. I'm prouder than most fathers, but he never needed me. I was an unnecessary variable in his life. He was safer once I left. I only did what I thought was best, like any fath-" William stood tall, trying to defend his actions.

"Stop saying that. You are the most unworthy man to use that title. You are no father", Morgan bellowed. He walked away from William; leaving the man stood alone, appearing deflated.

* * *

Emily knocked lightly on Reid's door. She heard someone fumbling around inside, until the door was pulled open and a slightly disheveled Reid pooped his head out.

"Hey, Reid. Just checking to see if you're alright."

"I'm fine, Prentiss", he deadpanned, ready to close the door on her. Emily put her foot between the door and the doorframe.

"Good", she paused, choosing her words carefully. "So where did that come from?" She asked, trying to to sound accusing. Reid didn't look up at her, he turned his back on her and continued searching through his go bag.

"Where did what come from?" He shrugged. Emily frowned.

"Um, _that._ I've never seen you hit someone", she continued to scowl at his back, he still remained with his back to her.

"I was just putting him in his place", Reid grunted.

"When have you ever felt the need to do that? You usually ignore people like him", her brow was bunched together in tight concern.

"Just leave it, Prentiss", Reid muttered coldly, pausing with his rumblings.

"Bu-"

"Stop!" Spencer spun around and glared at her. Emily felt herself stumble back slightly in shock at how angry he looked. "Stop acting like you know me! I _can_ fight back!" He growled, his teeth clenched in rage. Emily's mouth bobbed open, but no words formed. She stepped back and bumped into the dresser. Reid closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "I think you should just go", he deadpanned, turning his back on her again and rummaging through his messenger bag.

"O-okay", Emily squeaked nervously. "If you need to talk...call me", with that she darted from the room. Reid dropped his bag uncaringly on the bed and stomped to the door, slamming it shut.

 _Calm down,_ a small internal voice called out. _Control yourself,_ it begged.

* * *

"Hey, Prentiss. Was Reid good?" Morgan asked as Emily trudged back into the police station. She looked up with a quick nod.

"Yea, he's fine...just a little on edge, I think."

"He'll probably go see his mom." Emily nodded again, before turning to the board.

"Garcia's got a lead", Hotch said, pulling out a kevlar vest while the tech queen sent him the address.

* * *

They piled onto the jet to find Reid sat with a file in his lap. He was staring as one page thoughtfully.

Hotch frowned, _he would've read that page in seconds._

Reid looked up as they entered, though he didn't smile.

"We got the guy. 37 year old-"

"Toby Matthews. Yea I know", Reid muttered with a shrug.

"Uh...Yea, Course you do", Morgan said with a grin, rubbing the back of his neck. Reid turned back to his file, pulling his phone out and putting headphones in. Morgan scowled. Clearly the kid didn't want to talk, but he'd usually bury his head in a book.

A thought crossed his mind and he tried his best to push it away, but it remained present in his mind. _He wouldn't...not after the first time_ , his mind argued with the idea, _but still..._

It wasn't until they got back to the Bureau that Morgan actually built up the courage to talk to the kid.

"Reid..."

"Morgan, I don't want to talk about what happened, Okay", snapped the younger agent. "I-I have a lot on my mind."

"Like what?" Morgan asked. Reid turned his heel and came face to face with Morgan.

"You have no idea." He paused, taking a deep breath. "That son of a bitch was there a-and he-h-he..."

"Calm down, Reid. What's going on?"

"I-I don't know how much longer s-she can last. She's not doing t-too well", Reid's breath hitched and he looked away. Morgan kicked himself mentally, guilt creeping over him.

"Oh, Reid I'm sorry." Morgan touched Reid's arm gently and the younger agent turned his head. Morgan expected to see wet eyes, but they were dry and this hurt him more. _You don't have to prove anything to me,_ Morgan thought, _you're strong and I know that._

"I'm going to talk to Hotch...I think I might need to go out to Vegas again and sort out the problems with her medications", Reid explained sadly.

"Hotch will give you more time than you need off, trust me", Morgan feebily joked. "Listen. I'm here if you need anything, and I mean anything, I will always be here to talk, okay. I could tell something wasn't right."

Reid smiled back at Morgan and took a deep breath.

"I'll ask him now. Thanks Morgan", Reid stood up taking his surviving phone with him.

"I hope she gets better", Morgan called after him.

* * *

Hotch gaped at the files that had been brought back to him for inspection. _Too many anomalies?_ He thought to himself. He was even more surprised when all 6 files belonged to Reid. Hotch glanced at the files and his frown deepened. The information was wrong. Hotch dropped the file when a harsh knock echoed through his office.

Reid opened Hotch's office door when he heard a gruff reply.

"Sir, I was hoping I could talk to you." Hotch hid the files in a desk drawer, he couldn't embarrass Reid until he knew where the kids head was at.

"Take a seat, Reid."

* * *

"Where's Reid?" Garcia asked as they were being debriefed.

"I gave him the week off to deal with his mom. There were some complications with her medication", Hotch replied, taking a seat and opening his file. He had given Reid as long as he could off. His files proved that there was a problem.

"Oh, poor Spence", JJ muttered.

"He'll be alright. He just needs some time. I noticed that he wasn't acting his normal self", Rossi mused.

"I hope my boy genius is back to himself by next week", Garcia prayed, glancing at the empty chair before beginning the debriefing.

* * *

Reid slung his messenger bag on the couch, collapsing on it with a beer from the freezer. He closed his eyes.

 _This is going to be hard,_ he thought taking a swig of the bottle and raising his eyebrows at the surprisingly sweet taste that enveloped his tongue.

He looked at his case and sighed. At that moment he wished he had a normal family...it was a futile desire. A childish whim that he endeavoured to hope for.

* * *

 **So that's chapter one! I don't know if the other chapters are going to be as long, but I'm going to try. They should hopefully be between 2,000 and 3,000 words. I'm really into this story so I don't think that short chapters are going to be a problem.**

 **This may have just confused people beyond imaginable and I apologise, but everything happens for a reason in this story.**

 **P.S. I won't drag out the mystery for too long ;)**

 **Please leave a review, I'd be so so happy if you did!**

 **Thanks for reading; I'll see you real soon!**


	2. Secrets

**(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or it's character)**

 **Would you lookie here! Another chapter; looks like in back on my game! I'm super ever to write this story, hence why I've updated it so quickly (also, I've been working on it for some time, so I have several odd chapters compiled together.**

 **This chapter is just explaining Reid's mood and behaviours a bit more - be warned he is very passive aggressive! The next chapter is when things really start to happen and I can't wait to share that with you. And seeing how that chapter is already complete, it will be with you tomorrow :O**

 **Thank you guys so much for your response! I woke up and read all the reviews and I was just in an ecstasy of happiness!**

 **Thank you ahowell1993, Diane, bigtimedreamer101 and Ash59, Wayward Warlock,** **Cherubim and Womenreligiousfan!**

 **Sorry if you're seeing this again, I had to republish this chapter because it wasn't showing up.**

* * *

The team was scattered around the bullpen, slowly working through their files.

"Have any of you heard from Reid?" Morgan received several head shakes.

"I know he's busy, but he's called before when he was with his mother", JJ mumbled, suddenly realising how empty her life felt without him.

"Isn't he meant to be back today?" Emily added.

"Yea, and unless Hotch has given him a half day, he is late; incredibly late", Morgan frowned. He glanced over at Reid's pile of paperwork.

Several minutes elapsed and Morgan kept glancing at the elevator, waiting for their genius. Finally, he caught glimpse of the familiar face, stepping out of the metal doors, handing a woman a piece of paper and offering her a confident smile; not his normal awkward smile which they found quite endearing.

The young woman looked a little offended and as soon as Spencer's back was turned she crumpled the paper, throwing it to the floor. The doors shut, taking the woman to her floor. Reid waltzed in, slinging his bag on the floor with no care. He groaned at the sight of his files.

"I thought you loved paperwork?" Chuckled Emily.

"Sure", Reid retorted sarcastically. Clearly, his good mood had melted away.

"How was your week off?" JJ asked, unable to hide her smile at the sight of Reid. Reid shrugged with a grin of his own.

"Boring," he replied simply. JJ's smile slipped a little.

"Why're you so late, Kid?" Morgan asked. Reid shrugged indifferently.

"Things to do", he mumbled, flicking through his phone.

"Do we have a case?" He asked absently.

"Nope. But, you're back sweet cheeks! How are you?" Garcia wrapped her arms around him. Reid flinched and didn't return the hug.

"I'm fine, Garcia, just a bit frazzled."

"Well at least you're back", Garcia sighed, hiding her disappointment from his rejection.

"Thanks", he said with a grin and Garcia felt herself flood with relief. _He's not broken_...

Reid looked over at his huge pile of paperwork and groaned again. _How am I going to get all that done,_ he sighed, pulling the first file towards him.

Morgan watched Reid through the corner of his eyes and frowned at the kid's slow pace and the number of times he frowned at the paperwork. He caught Reid gritting his teeth angrily as he gazed at the work.

* * *

Morgan looked up at the clock and smiled when he saw it was lunch. He looked over at Reid. He'd been on strict orders from Garcia to make sure the kid went to the conference room for lunch because she'd made special cupcakes for Reid's return. But when Morgan looked over at Spencer's desk he found the kid already hurrying away.

"Reid?" he called after him, but the kid was already in the elevator.

Morgan shook his head and trudged up to the conference room, where the team were sat with their lunch. Garcia bustled over with a box of cupcakes. She looked around Morgan and frowned.

"You had one job! Where's boy wonder?" Garcia chided.

"Hey, it's not my fault. I looked up and Reid had already gone", Garcia pouted and dropped the cupcakes on the round table in disappointment.

"This isn't like him", Rossi mused.

"Garcia I need a favour, but you may have to miss some of your lunch", Hotch looked over at the deflated tech analyst.

"Whatever you need, sir. Uh...what do you need?"

"I need you to track Reid's phone. I want to know where he is", Garcia stared at Hotch, as did much of the team.

"Isn't that a major invasion of privacy?" Muttered JJ.

"Yes, but Reid is my agent. I'll take the fall, I just... I need to know if he's...using again."

"No. No, he wouldn't", Morgan insisted, shaking his head defiantly. Yet, part of his mind disagreed with his insistence.

"Morgan's right. It took everything he had to kick it the first time", JJ whispered.

"Wait...Reid was on drugs?" Rossi asked in utter shock.

"You know the Tobias Hankel case before you rejoined the bureau?" Rossi thought for a minute before giving a small nod.

"I've heard of it."

"Reid was kidnapped by Hankel and he was forced to take Dilaudid. After we got him back he had an issue with the drug", Hotch glanced at the window and pushed the door shut. "We kept it quiet and he's never openly talked about it. He got over it and so did we."

"If he's on it again the chances of quitting a second time are...astronomical", Rossi breathed, unbelieving that the 'Dr. Spencer Reid' he knew could have ever taken drugs of any kind.

"I don't know if I could cover it up a second time. Which is why I need to know, so Garcia?" The tech queen got up and hurried off to her lair. The team tried to follow, but Hotch waved them back.

"You're right, this is private."

"I'm still coming. I've seen his withdrawal once and I never want to again", Morgan said, following his boss.

* * *

"Garcia, what have you got?" Garcia didn't answer her boss, her fingers danced over the board and a feeling of dread began to fill her.

"Baby Girl?"

"I've got good news and bad news...what would you rather?"

"Good news I guess", shrugged Morgan, not liking the sound of his options.

"Good news is that I haven't found any unusual purchases on his card or any withdrawals of cash from his bank, buts that's where part of the bad news comes in. There is literally no significant purchases on his card over the last month, it's all groceries and wait for it; coffee."

"Okay...whys that bad? It means he's not taking drugs", Morgan said.

"Well! Angel cakes, if there were no major purchases on his card...where was he last week?" She spun around, confusion written across her face.

"Wait...so there's no flights booked in his name?" Garcia shook her head.

"It's either he didn't go to Vegas, or he went under some other name or something because no Spencer Reid checked in." Hotch was silent, his head whirring with possibilities.

"What about his phone? Can you track it?" Hotch asked

"That's the other bad news. Spencer's new phone isn't under his name; it still says he has that brick of a cell phone. Reid must have his phone under a different name or it's been secured pretty well because I can't get a hold of anything to do with it." They all exchanged looks.

"We can't rule out drugs. He wouldn't pay with a card for drugs; he'd use cash. He may have also used cash to get to Vegas-"

"Why were there no transactions in the bank?"

"He may have some cash at home", Garcia suggested.

"He could have used that to get to Vegas."

"But why isn't it showing up, Hotch? Why is everything so...hidden?" Morgan questioned, pacing Garcia's lair and making her nervous.

"I don't know. I don't want any of this disclosed to the rest of the team; including Reid. I'll watch him this week and if it gets out of hand I will intervene."

"Wait, you're just gonna ignore this?" Exclaimed Morgan.

"We can't confront him with evidence that we obtained illegally."

"But it's your job to know about these sort of things. You're unit chief."

"Yes and we want him to stay that way," Garcia grabbed Morgan's hand. "If Reid finds out about this he can report us. Now I know he typically wouldn't, but I wouldn't count on it with the mood he's been in lately. Look, Hotch is right. Besides, we are his team; he would tell us if something was wrong."

* * *

Reid skipped up to his desk and raised his eyebrows at the new little box sat on his desk. He opened it and took out one with thick butter icing.

"Reid? Where the hell did you go? Garcia made you cupcakes!" Morgan scowled at the younger agent who didn't seem to care.

"I met someone for coffee. Jeez, I didn't realise I had to disclose my whole life to you", Reid grabbed a cupcake, completely ignoring the '187' written in blue frosting as he shoved it in his mouth. "These are good", he mumbled through a mouth of vanilla cake.

"I'm sorry, did you forget that Penelope Garcia is not only the queen of everything techie but also the best cook in the country?"

"I think you mean the world. And it's goddess of all things 'techie' if you don't mind", Garcia glided past and grinned at Reid with his mouthful of cake.

"How could I get that wrong", Morgan gasped. "Anyway, who did you meet, Reid?"

"Once again, why should I tell you?" Reid said, a smirk on his lips.

"Because we love you and we're looking out for you", Garcia chirped. Seeing how Reid was in a better mood, Morgan deemed it safe to tease him.

"Was it a girl?" Reid looked up at Morgan and shrugged. "No way!"

"I'm hurt you have such little faith in me", Reid exclaimed in mock shock. "I can pick up chicks just as easily as you gym addicts." Morgan laughed, but Garcia frowned. _When has Reid ever referred to a woman as a 'chick'?_ She was starting to believe Hotch's theory because her boy wonder wouldn't talk like this.

"Sure you can, Pretty Boy!"

"I can!" He cried defiantly.

"Whatever you say, Reid. You might want to finish your paperwork rather than talking to 'girls'", Morgan returned to his desk leaving a very disgruntled Reid, with half a cupcake in his hand, scowling at his back.

Morgan sat at his desk and found himself thinking about what Garcia had found out. He couldn't stop himself turning back to Reid. Reid was glowering at his cupcake.

"Uh...Reid?" The genius looked up, setting his cake down and crossing his arms.

"What?"

"Where did you go last week?" Reid's arms dropped, his face freezing in place, but he quickly composed himself.

"I went to Vegas to sort out my mother's medication", he muttered.

"How did it go?"

"Um...fine I guess...what's this about?" Morgan tried to look natural; he couldn't tell Reid what he, Hotch and Garcia knew.

"I was just worried about you." Reid took the bait, offering Morgan a small smile.

"Well thank you for taking such an interest in my life", Reid said sarcastically, smirking as he pulled out a file.

"That's what friends are for. You'd tell us though...if something was wrong?", Reid shut his folder and swiveled around again.

"Yes, Morgan. But there's nothing you need to worry about, Okay?" Reid clicked his pen and stuck his head into the file.

* * *

Morgan kept glancing anxiously at Reid, his gaze skimming over the phone that seemed to have Reid's undivided attention.

He decided that he needed to get onto that phone and see what Reid had hidden in it. More importantly, he wanted to know why it wasn't in Reid's name.

If he could grab it and get it to Garcia, she could hack it.

As if fate had heard his thoughts, Reid slammed his file shut, stood and wandered off to the bathroom. Morgan took his chance, grasping Reid's phone.

"Morgan..." JJ warned.

"Come on, JJ. Don't tell me you're not curious."

"I didn't say I wasn't, but this isn't the way-"

"You think he's going to tell me? I just want to help him", Morgan said, banging his fist on the table when he got the passcode wrong again.

* * *

Reid stepped out of the restroom and slowly made his way back to the bullpen, his mind swirling. He froze when his eyes found Morgan sat at his desk. He cautiously glanced at what was in Morgan's hand and felt his breath catch in his throat.

He darted across the room, smacking into his desk and trying to grab his phone off Morgan.

"Woah!" Morgan chuckled, holding the phone high above his head. "What's Pretty Boy hiding?" He teased, although there was a note of seriousness in his voice.

"Give it back, Morgan!" He growled. He barged into Morgan making him stumble.

"Morgan!" Shouted Emily.

"I was just looking who this new girl of yours was", Morgan said, giving Reid his phone. The younger man snatched the phone and checked that Derek hadn't got into it.

"What gives you the right!"

"Calm down. I didn't mean any harm", Emily glanced up at the heated voices.

"I don't care what you meant to do! You've been testing me all day; What is your problem!?" Reid didn't give Morgan the chance to reply because he'd already slung his messenger bag over his shoulder and was marching out.

"Spence?" JJ called after him which only made him walk faster.

"Morgan, why did you do that?", Emily shook her head in disappointment.

"I only touched his phone! Give me a break!"

"What's going on?" Hotch looked down from the threshold of his office.

"Where's Reid?" Rossi asked.

* * *

Reid made it out of the building and lent against the cool bricks. He bent low, putting his head between his legs and breathing deeply.

 _That was close..._ he thought, rubbing his temples. _Too close..._

* * *

 **Sorry if that dropped off at the end, I thought it was too short and with the next chapter already done, I didn't know what else to add.**

 **Please review. Thanks again to all those who reviewed, favourited and followed, it means so much!**

 **I will see you tomorrow in the next chapter!**


	3. Confrontation

**(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or it's characters)**

 **Thanks for all the reviews yesterday! Thank you ahowell1993, Lenika03, Rebecca1, Sarry22, LottyCharl, Ash59, and bigtimedreamer.**

 **So this chapter spans over a week, just because I think if I do a chapter on each day, it might bore you guys and sometimes too much mystery is a bad thing.**

 **This chapter may be confusing at the end, but I promise you that the next chapter will explain all and that will be out tomorrow, hand on heart, I swear to you.**

 **Previously:**

 _Reid made it out of the building and lent against the cool bricks. He bent low, putting his head between his legs and breathing deeply._

 _That was close... he thought, rubbing his temples. Too close..._

* * *

It had been the longest week of Derek Morgan's life when he finally decided to confront Reid.

On Tuesday Reid had actually come in on time, but he was on his computer most of the day and his paperwork remained untouched.

On Wednesday he was late again and he actually got some paperwork done. However, his supersonic paperwork skills hadn't been in action and he only managed to get 5 files done. He also acted cagey with the whole team, especially JJ and Garcia (who didn't tell the team the whole story.)

 _"Jesus, Spence! I know you love coffee, but isn't that just too much. That's like your 8th cup and lunch isn't even done. Reid shrugged and continued to pour his coffee. He picked it up, ignoring the sugar pot that he usually forged out of and began walking away._

 _"No sugar either. Okay, what have you done with my Spence?" She laughed._

 _"I didn't realise there were rules", Reid muttered. JJ opened her mouth to answer, but shock prevented her as Reid walked away without another word._

Garcia's encounter had been in her lair when Hotch gave Reid some files to give her, for them to go through together, he wanted two sets of eyes on it.

 _"Boy genius! What brings you to the bat cave?!" Garcia chirped, spinning in her chair to face Spencer. She beamed at him as he set the files down._

 _"Hotch wanted us to go through these", as he lent down Garcia wrapped one of his stands of hair around her fingers._

 _"I love what you've done with your hair. It's not your usual style, but I still love it", she grinned. Reid pulled back from her prying fingers and pushed his hair back._

 _"Uh...Thanks", he mumbled. "Anyway, I was wondering if you could do this on your own. I'm pretty busy at the moment."_

 _"Um...didn't you say Hotch wanted us to go through it...together? Won't he be mad? I don't want to get my baby in trouble", she teased. Reid glowered at her darkly._

 _"Don't call me that!" He growled. "I have something to do and it's more important than this. So are you going to do it or not?" Garcia shrank away and swallowed nervously, nodding. Reid shook himself slightly._

 _"Thanks", he sighed, leaving a shell-shocked Garcia gaping at the door._

 _She only remembered one other time that Reid was like that._

Thursday wasn't much better. Rossi challenged him to a game of chess which Reid had initially refused. When Rossi has beaten Reid for the second time the kid had stormed away on a 'lunch break' not returning for an hour and a half.

 _"Where the hell have you been?" Hotch demanded as soon as Reid had stepped back in._

 _"Out."_

 _"I'm serious, Reid. If you carry on with this behaviour I will have to suspend you", Hotch warned. That clearly got Reid's attention as he gulped nervously._

 _"I had someone important to see. I can explain but not yet...I'm not ready", Reid said quietly, his eyes fluttering over the bureau._

 _"Reid, I need to kn-"_

 _"Honestly, Hotch, it's just my mother's medication. I promise I won't let it happen again."_

But he did; the next day Reid was two hours late. Hotch ignored it initially, knowing that Reid had troubles with his mother. When the unit chief got another stack of badly filed paperwork from an agent Spencer Reid, he knew he'd have to take action. Lucky for Him, Morgan got there first.

* * *

Garcia stopped by Emily's back, chatting about Sergio and showing her pictures of the black cat that Garcia had filling her phone. JJ was typing up some work onto her computer and Morgan was writing up a report.

Hotch and Rossi were up in their offices doing whatever it was that they did behind their closed doors, in Rossi's case it was usually writing sections of his newest book.

Reid, on the other hand, had his phone glued to his ear. Morgan stole a glance and saw Reid chatting away ruffling his hair boredly.

Reid laughed and rolled his eyes. Morgan was the only one who seemed to notice or who seemed to be getting annoyed with Reid's casual conversation on work hours. JJ looked over once and shook her head at the genius before returning to her work.

Reid swore and then laughed again and Morgan couldn't take it any longer. He stood up and marched over to Reid's desk. Reid looked up at him, but carried on talking, turning his back to Morgan.

"-still here, Yea. No...seriously I don't car-" Morgan pressed a button on the phone stand and Reid's phone went dead. He scowled at the phone and turned back to Morgan and saw the older agents finger pressed on the end call button.

"What the hell man!" He shouted, dropping his phone into his desk.

"You're acting completely unprofessional."

"Sue me", Reid Hissed, picking up the phone and typing in a number. Morgan sighed, bent down and unplugged the phone.

"Hey!"

"We need to talk, Reid."

"Oh, what is it about now?" Reid groaned.

"What's happened to you?" Morgan asked sadly. "You have been off with us all."

"Maybe because you can't mind your own damn buissness."

"You're just proving my point. You never used to speak to any of us that way."

"I'm not a kid anymore! I can speak how I like."

"Yes, you can, but every word that comes out of your mouth is an insult, now to me that sounds more like a child than an adult."

"Back off, Morgan! Don't pretend that you know me!"

"Just Tell us!"

"Tell you what?"

"Reid, we need to know if...if-"

"If what!?" Reid spat, beginning to grow impatient.

"If you're taking drugs?" Morgan deadpanned. Reid looked at him with a look of confusion and then around at the rest of the team who were also fixing him with the same stare. Then he did something Morgan hadn't been expecting; he burst into laughter.

"Drugs!?" He Chuckled. Morgan's lip quivered in anger and he grabbed Reid's right arm, ripping it up to reveal the crook of his arm. The button popped off and Reid gasped as Morgan examined his arm.

"I'm not on any drugs", Reid snapped trying to pull his arm away, but Morgan held on tighter, pulling the other sleeve up and finding no track marks on that one either. Morgan frowned at the arms, his eyes flicking from one to the other.

"Where are the scars?"

"What scars?" Reid asked, again trying to pull away and again being held tighter.

"Don't act stupid. We all knew you were still on dialludid after the Hankel case. Hotch got you off last time, but he won't be able to do it again," Morgan stared at Reid who's mouth was bobbing open and closed in bewilderment. Then as if something hit him a dark grin slid over his face. He shook his head and finally managed to yank his arms from Morgan's grasp.

"He wants to fire me?! For what, Morgan!? Not doing drugs!?" Reid snarled, pulling down his sleeves, trying to compose what dignity he had left. Morgan didn't realise what a scene they were making.

"Y-you're not using...?"

"No!" Reid yelled.

"Then what's wrong with you?" Morgan and Reid turned to Hotch who was coming down the stairs, wary of the stares that his agents had evoked.

"Wrong with me-? You think there's something wrong with me!? You think I'm crazy?"

"You have been acting completly out of character a-and we're worried", Morgan admitted a little calmer.

"So you do think I'm losing it. I've had things on my mind! Which you seem to want to know about all the damn time!"

"It's not just that..."

"What now? Are you going to accuse me of money laundering?" Reid laughed, but Hotch and Morgan didn't respond. "You're not serious..."

"Reid, we know you didn't go to Vegas", Hotch said.

"What?"

"There were no flights in your name", Morgan added.

"How did you know that?" Reid asked quietly, panic rising inside him.

"B-because I looked at your bookings...I'm sorry, Spence, we were worried and I just wanted to help, I needed to know you were okay and so...", Garcia trailed off with guilt, leaning into Emily's desk.

"You looked into my records? You spied on me!?" Garcia's bottom lip trembled.

"I-"

"You stupid bitch!" Reid spat, glaring at the tech queen, silencing her. The entire room fell silent and fat tears rolled down Garcia's cheeks. Morgan felt his hands ball into fists. He grabbed Reid's collar and slammed him into his desk.

"Don't speak to her like that! It wasn't even her idea!" He growled, shoving Reid away from him in disgust. Reid stumbled back, but caught himself quickly.

"You looked through my personal life! It's none of your business!"

"What are you hiding?" Hotch demanded.

"Nothing!"

"Then explain!" Ordered Emily, wrapping her arm around Garcia who was trying to control her sobs.

"I didn't go to Vegas, okay!? I didn't need to", Reid put his hands behind his head and took a deep shaky breath. Morgan watched him, still filled with rage over how he'd treated Garcia.

"Why?" Reid looked up at a still seething Morgan and averted his eyes. Silence ensued once more, except for a few quiet conversations other agents were pretending to have as a cover for listening to the drama.

"I just...there was no point..."

"Why, Reid?" It was Hotch this time.

"M-my mom...", Spencer whispered and Morgan stopped.

"Reid, you can tell us. Please! You can trust us, we're family", Morgan promised, putting a hand on Reid's shoulder. Reid didn't look up at Morgan's eyes, but his bottom lip began to tremble. Morgan felt a little of his anger fade; he knew there had to be a reason as to why Reid snapped.

"S-sh-she-she", Reid struggled with the words. He could feel eyes on him. The conversations of other agents had become significantly quieter and he knew his team were watching eagerly. Reid looked at his files and felt anger bubble up inside of him. He drew his hand back and swept the files off his desk, his breath coming out in angry rasps and he turned back on Morgan, his hands rolled into fists.

"She's dead!" He cried, throwing more files onto the floor and grabbing anything he could to slam down into the carpet. A photo of the team lay smashed on the floor and he had a framed photo of Henry poised in his hands when Morgan grabbed him and held him tightly. Reid fought Morgan's grasp and the team looked on with sad eyes.

"Reid! Reid! Calm down! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"It's t-too late! She's gone!" Reid moaned.

An angry voice suddenly joined the chorus.

"That's a lie!"

The team spun around. Reid pushed Morgan's away and gaped ahead of him.

William took Diana's trembling hand, fixing her with a hard stare. He marched purposefully into the bullpen when their son stood, pulling his ex-wife's behind him.

"Mom? Is that yo- Dad!?" Reid gasped, a smile sprawling over his face. Diana screwed her face up and took a step back, clinging onto William.

"Mrs Reid? B-but...I-I", JJ gaped at Spencer's mother, not understanding what was happening. _Is this some kind of sick joke?_

"Reid, you said she was dead", Hotch frowned.

"And he was lieing! That's all he's ever been good for!" William growled.

"I thought-" Reid started, but William cut him off.

"Cut the act! As soon as I saw you the other week, I knew...I called Bennington's; I told your mother. It took over a week to approve her leave, but we had to come.", William took a deep breath to try and control himself. "Now, where is he!?" He spat.

"Um Mr Reid, shall we discuss this in my office?" Hotch offered, noticing how every head was now turned on them.

"No, we shall not, Agent! Not until he tells me-", William had spit flying from his mouth. Reid looked calm, as if he was unaffected. Morgan didn't know who to side with. He knew Reid was his best friend, but after all he'd done over the last couple of weeks. But then again, William Reid had left Spencer with his ill mother at the age of 10.

"Tell you what, Father?", Reid interrupted defiantly. Rossi and Hotch both frowned at Reid. When he had seen his father on the Riley case, Spencer would've never spoken to him in such a manner. "I don't think I'm entitled to tell you anything. The secrets _you've_ been keeping...how's that been going for you?" William's face burned red with rage. He stalked closer, a shaky Diana still clutching his arm, trying to keep him back from their own son.

"Stop the act! I can see right through it. You think you can fool your own parents! I know my son!"

"You're just as delusional as her", Reid said boredly, turning to his desk. William grabbed the young man's arm, but Reid slipped straight out of the grasp, grinning maliciously at his father.

"Stop this...please", Diana begged.

"The same goes for you. Why should I listen to you? You were no mother to me", Diana coughed out a sob, still trying to pull her ex-husband back.

"Spence...", JJ mumbled in disbelief. He didn't sound like the Spence she knew.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" He shrieked, his calm demeanour morphing into rage. JJ stumbled back into her desk, staring at Reid with fear. Reid saw this in her continence and grinned, his anger instantly melting away.

"Where the hell is my son!?" William yelled again, focusing Reid's attention back on his father.

"I'm right here, Dad", Reid said airily. This time William grabbed Reid by his collar.

"Where is Spencer!?" Diana continued to tremble as her husband interrogated. The team were about to intervene, but halted at William's words. They exchanged looks of confusion, which Reid caught. He threw his head back and laughed. "WHERE IS HE?"

"Please, James, Please", Diana sobbed.

"What's going on, Reid?" Morgan asked, hoping that he'd finally get a straight answer from the kid. Reid shrugged, which infuriated William more.

"What have you done with him, yo-you little bastard!? Where is your brother? Where is Spencer?!" He shook Reid, their noses almost touching, William's red face, in front of Reid's pale one. Reid stretched his neck out, forcing William's head back. A smile was still drawn on his lips as he hissed out a statement slowly for effect on the quiet bull pen.

"Spencer is dead."

TBC

* * *

 **Oooooo little bit of a cliffhanger, it's lucky the next chapter is already complete and so you only have to wait a day for it.**

 **Sorry for all that beef, but I thought that it's rare that Reid is that savage in other five and so I wanted to exploit angry!Reid.**

 **Please review. What do you think so far? Has anyone figured out the secret yet?**

 **I was supposed to end this chapter on "That's a lie!" But I just couldn't do that to you guys, and also I was too excited not to reveal more ;)**

 **Thanks so much for all of your support with this story, I am so happy and motivated over this story at the moment and that's because of you guys! Keep doing whatcha doing!**

 **See you tomorrow night, same time ;)**


	4. Big Reveal

**(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or it's characters.)**

 **Wow, wow, wow, wow! Thank you guys for the reviews! I was not expecting that response. I'm just going to answer the reviews on chapter 3 because you all put time and effort into them, so thank you. (And that's not to say the other reviews weren't as motivating, I just don't have time to respond to them all. You should all of had a pm from me by now. But thank you all for the reviews, they make me so happy!)**

 **Bigtimedreamer101- good guess... _here it is, you can find out now! Thank you for reviewing._**

 **tlcroft- _I like that idea...as in the alternate personality. Thanks for the review!_**

 **Rebecca1- _you are most definitely about to find out, thank you so much! I'm glad you think it's nuts, I was kinda going for that, I just hope it wasn't too confusing. This chapter will explain._**

 **Lottycharl- _perhaps... At least it's not Reid's theory of "Evil twin, Eviler twin", thank you for your review!_**

 **Guest- _looks like my story's having the desired effect. Thank you for reviewing!_**

 **Wayward warlock- _thank you thank you thank you sooooo much! Your kind words meant a lot. And I wasn't expecting to do the reveal yesterday, but I just got so excited. The only problem with being organised and having chapters ready is that I just want to post them all the time! Your guess I pretty good, but James-( a little bit of a teaser)- has been hurting Spencer for much of their lives, but all will be explained. Also, I'm glad you got the hints, I didn't want to make it too obvious. I hope this chapter will explain more._**

 **AnnamarieL- _I was super sad that I can't PM you because I would've loved to thank you personally. I just want to apologise for keeping you on edge for a whole day, but if I didn't have a little self-restraint the whole story would end up online within a few minutes of each other and that ruins the suspense and...I'm waffling on, I need to go back to what I was talking about. Oh, yea; thank you! I hope this chapter answers all those...well most of those questions._**

 **Ahowell1993 _\- BINGO! You are about to discover what an asshole Reid's brother is and some reason as to why he was erased from their lives. Thank you for your review._**

 **Sarry22- _thank you as always for your support! I hope to see an update on your story, I'm patiently waiting ;)_**

 **But thank you to everyone! Please be sure to review this chapter to share your thoughts.**

 **This chapter is going to be quite a hefty one...ENJOY!**

 **Previously:**

 _A smile was still drawn on his lips as he hissed out a statement slowly for effect on the quiet bullpen._

 _"Spencer is dead."_

* * *

William released Reid, shaking his head desperately. Diana's sobs increased and were painful to listen to. Reid straightened himself up; he still had a cruel smile on his lips.

"James...you didn't...you haven't...please tell me you didn't", William stammered, his bottom lip shaking. Reid seemed to enjoy the man's misery and took a step towards him.

"Why? Is it something you didn't want to hear? Your perfect little Spencer...dead. Shall I tell you how I stuck him like a pig", Reid smiled when his mothers cry hitched. He paused again, revelling in the misery he had inflicted. "Shall I tell you how he pleaded?" Reid's gaze turned to Morgan, who was stood stock still; confused. "He pleaded for his team ' _help me, Morgan! Please'",_ Reid turned his voice up a notch to impersonate their resident genius; the team hadn't seemed to notice how Reid's voice had become deep all of a sudden. "He kept telling me that you'd find him...and yet you never even knew", Reid chuckled into the silent bullpen.

William could feel the tears threatening to slip down his cheek. His balled fists shook with rage. Hotch saw it before anyone else but was unable to pull William back in time. William's fist connected with Reid's jaw, causing him to stumble back into his desk, knocking books flying. By the time Hotch had restrained William, Reid was laughing again.

"How could you!?" William sobbed, falling from Hotch's arms to the floor.

"You're really asking _me_ that? I'm sorry that your favourite child is dead, maybe you can finally focus on me."

"What's going on, Spencer?", Hotch held onto the young man's arm, praying that he wasn't having a schizophrenic episode. Reid's head whipped around, and gone was the calm continence. He yanked himself away from Hotch.

"Don't call me that", he said darkly.

"I don't understand..." squeaked Garcia. Reid turned his focus to the tech analyst.

"You wouldn't. I was erased from Spencer's life. There's nothing you could find on your computer. Besides, I've fooled five FBI profilers, do you really think _you_ could figure me out", Reid glowered at her, and she felt herself shrink beneath his stare.

"Who are you?" Growled Rossi, finally catching on. Reid opened his mouth in a mock gasp and applauded.

"And the winner is David Rossi! David Rossi..." he pondered with the name, testing it on his tongue. "Did you know my brother had all of your books. He used to save the money he earned and go out and buy the latest copy. That was until I burnt them", there was that smile again.

Rossi opened his mouth but didn't speak, his mind was thrown back in time.

 _"I've read all of your books, sir", Spencer said eagerly, watching Rossi as he if were another being._

 _"Oh. Is that why you've been quoting it?" Reid nodded sheepishly and Rossi chuckled._

 _"I used to have to the entire collection."_

 _"Yea? Why don't you anymore?", Rossi asked, looking at the kid curiously._

 _"Um...there was a fire...", Reid shifted slightly...nervously. He looked back up and smiled; hiding something. "But I started a new collection."_

Rossi blinked out of the flashback, his eyes large and angry.

"You didn't answer my question", Rossi growled. Reid sighed.

"I thought, being FBI agents and all that you might have figured it out by now...I guess I was wrong", Diana watched her son anxiously, anticipating his next move. When he didn't say anything she stood up slowly.

"That isn't Spencer", she said slowly, pointing an accusatory finger at the young man who'd captured everyone's attention. Reid began examining his nails. "I know my children and that is not Spencer."

"Children? I didn't know Spence had sibling-"

"It wasn't in his file", Hotch muttered.

"Of course I wasn't! They removed me from their lives", Reid yelled.

Diana was still glaring at him when she continued. "You made our lives hell. And _you_ left us. William tried to help you, but it was you who left." She turned to the agents. "Spencer isn't my only child. His twin; James, was born first. Everything was and still is identical about them...except their personalities. They couldn't be more different in that sense..." she was trembling more violently.

"You're going to have to start using the past tense when speaking about him, Mom", James winked. Before anyone realised what was going on, William was on his feet, grabbing his son by the neck and throwing him to the floor.

"I'm going to kill you! I'm gonna... kill...", William tightened his hands around James' throat and the young man blanched, his fingers trying to push William away. Hotch and Morgan were trying to pull the father off, but he was fuelled by some kind of supernatural strength.

"Dad...s-st-stop..." James rasped. "N-not d-dead...tell y-yo-you...", William eased up, allowing his son to take a gulp of air.

"What?"

"H-he's not d-de-dead...y-yet."

"Where is he?" Snarled Morgan. He no longer saw this man as Spencer and he couldn't believe he ever had.

"Aren't you supposed to interrogate m-me first?" He snuck a look at his father. "I need to tell you _my_ story. You remember how I loved my stories dad?" He asked innocently, like a child.

"How do we know you're not lying, that Spencer isn't already dead?" Hotch asked, cuffing the young man.

"I saw him last night. There's a video on my phone", Morgan grabbed the phone from the desk.

"Passcode." He demanded.

"I'm not telling you." Garcia rolled her eyes, took the phone and stepping behind James, pressed his thumb against the button. Morgan took it back and swiped through the apps to find photos. And sure enough, there was the video.

Morgan looked over at Hotch who nodded.

"Conference room", he ordered, pulling James along with him. Garcia took the phone and threw the video onto the television screen with a few clicks. The video was black until a torch flicked on.

 _"James? James is that you? P-please turn the l-li-light on",_ they heard Spencer plead and they suddenly realised the difference between the two voices, it seemed so obvious now.

The torch on the camera shone down a hole in the floor where Spencer was sat. His arms and legs were bound tightly with tape and rope. His clothes were ripped and bloody in some areas and if it was possible; he looked even skinnier.

" _No", James deadpanned. Reid whimpered, squinting against the bright torch._

 _"T-The-They'll figure this o-out."_

 _"I saw Dad the other week. I forgot to tell you", Spencer faltered, his shivering becoming more convulsive._

 _"You didn't...y-you haven't h-hurt him h-have you?" Spencer whispered._

 _"No. But I wish I could", James shuffled with the camera, pulling out a bottle and a small box of sandwiches and slinging them down at Spencer._

 _"There...I'll be back tomorrow",_ the team watched as the bottle slid far from Reid, and he reached out desperately for it. James watched him struggle, keeping the camera rolling on the young man. Spencer looked up, hot tears slipping down his cheek. His teeth were gritted having clearly aggravated a wound.

 _"P-pleas-please", he pleaded and James growled behind the camera._

 _"For god's sake you're pathetic", James set down the phone and the sounds of 'no' and 'please' filled the silence, followed by several loud smacks. The sounds stopped for a minute and only a few grunts could be heard before someone gasped._

 _"That's what you get! Don't ever try that again!" James deep voice echoed through the room. Reid was silent. James grabbed the phone, but he didn't show Reid this time. He turned out the torch and Spencer sobbed._

 _"Don't l-leave m-me in the dark...p-please..." James didn't answer and Spencer rasped. "Morgan! Hotch? JJ, Em, Rossi?" He cried weakly, "Garcia?", he whispered this last name, his breathing becoming laboured. "Help me..."_

The video shut off.

All eyes were on James whose own eyes were still glued to the screen; his lips turned up maliciously.

"So what now?" He asked eagerly. Suddenly, Morgan slammed the young man into the wall, ignoring the loud crack of James head against the wall.

"You sonova- I'll kill you!"

"Get off! Get off!" James squeaked kicking out. Hotch reluctantly pulled Morgan off Spencer's twin.

James took a shuddery breath; composing himself, before a smile returned to his face.

"You don't want to kill me, Agent. If you still want to find your 'Boy Wonder' that is."

"What do you want?" Hotch demanded coldly. James pouted.

"Is that really how you talk to your agents?" James asked, raising his eyebrows.

"You aren't one of my agents. You can't even do the paperwork. Every single one of Reid's files that you sent off were returned; none of my agents has their work returned...never", Hotch growled, he felt himself swell with pride at the thought of his agents. James looked down at his feet, his cheeks burning red.

"Ah, but I fooled you for 2 weeks", the smile was back.

"We will find him", Emily said.

"Of course you will, you're the FBI. The FBI never get anything wrong... oh wait..."

"You're going to tell us where he is!"

"Am I? Well seeing as how I have the upper hand, I think you will be doing what I say".

Morgan shook with rage.

"JJ, Rossi, take him to an interrogation room. Don't speak to him",

"This won't help you find him", JJ gripped James' arm harshly, Rossi grappling with the other, his hold equally savage. "I'm your only chance!" James yelled over his shoulder as they dragged him from the room.

"You need to explain", Hotch said turning to William and Diana Reid.

"It's a long story", Diana mumbled.

"We have time."

"Do we? Hotch, we have no idea where Re-Spencer is? From that video he could already be- he could-", Morgan couldn't face finishing the sentence.

"I refuse to believe that. We'll find him, Morgan. Mrs. Reid, please take a seat. You too sir", Hotch motioned to the chair and a very shaky Diana collapsed into her chair.

"There are some people from Benningtons downstairs...I-I should get them", William mumbled, departing with haste. Emily and Morgan exchanged a look while Garcia put her soft hand over Diana's.

"He doesn't like talking about...him", Diana explained.

"Who?"

"James", Garcia tightened her hold on Diana's hand when the woman trembled at uttering the name.

"Why not?" Garcia asked gently.

"You have to understand; I loved both my boys. I was never biased...at least not without good reason. I just always thought James was of a different temperament. I gave him space", Diana licked her dry lips nervously. "Over the years he just kept getting worse and worse until...he-he-"

"Take your time," Hotch said calmly, sitting down opposite her.

"I don't want to start there", Diana whispered, her eyes glazed over at the thought of the bad memory.

"Start wherever you want."

"Okay...I first noticed James' behaviour was...cruel when they were 3."

 _"Daddy, Watch!" Spencer cried, lifting his wand and shifting the huge hat on his head._

 _"I'm watching."_

 _Spencer opened his tiny palm to reveal a quarter._

 _"Watch cosly (closely)" he instructed, waving his wand and exclaiming. "Abwa kadabwa!" He opened his hand and the coin was gone. He giggled profusely._

 _"Wow! Uncle Dan has been teaching you well!" William grinned, tickling the small boy's sides. Spencer squealed with laughter and rushed over to where his mother was sat as a means of escape; the giant hat that his uncle had given him slipped off his wavy brown hair._

 _James was sat on Diana's lap and had been glaring at Spencer. He hadn't wanted to sit there, but Diana had pulled him onto her when Spencer announced that he would be hosting a magic show. James kicked out at the smaller boy before he could reach their mother. Spencer bounced back to their father, a smile still spread across his face._

 _"Abwa kedabwa...turn you into a fwog!" Spencer yelled, tapping William lightly on the nose._

 _"I think you'll have to keep working on that one, Spencer", William pulled the smaller boy onto his lap._

 _"Don't lie to him, William" Diana said absentmindedly._

 _"I can do that too!" James insisted, sliding off Diana's lap._

 _"Okay, your turn. What trick are you gonna do?" William asked, shifting Spencer to a more comfy spot on his lap so he could watch. His hazel eyes widened eagerly. James stomped up to Spencer and snatched the wand away from him._

 _"James!" Diana chided._

 _"Need it!" James muttered, sticking his tongue out at Spencer, who's top lip had started to quiver. William set Spencer on the couch and took the wand from James._

 _"NO!" He screamed, jumping up to try and get the wand. Spencer toddled over and William handed the wand back._

 _"You will ask your brother to borrow things. You will not snatch", William ordered. James turned and scowled at his younger brother. Spencer was smaller than James, his hair a lighter brown, his eyes wider and of a deeper brown, but other than that they were completely identical._

 _"NO!" James repeated defiantly. Spencer's incredibly above average brain whirred and he knew he had to do something to help. He held out his much-loved wand to his twin with an anxious smile._

 _"James can borwow it", he offered. James slowly took the wand, eying his brother._

 _"What do you say, baby?" Diana asked. Spencer frowned and looked up at her._

 _"Thank you?" Spencer asked, not understanding what she had wanted him to say._

 _"Not you, Spencer. What do you say to Spencer, James?" James looked from his mother to his father and then to the smallest of their family, who was smiling sweetly. Something inside of James wanted to break that smile on his brothers face. He wanted to hurt the boy. He looked down at the wand in his hand and carefully bent it._

 _"Jame-" a snap interrupted William and they all stared at the snapped wand. James dropped the remains on the floor in front of Spencer and the small boy dropped to his knees in tears._

 _"Daddy fix it! Pwease! Fix it pwease!" The small boy sobbed, trying to give his father the two halves of the wand. William watched as James dashed from the room and he got up and followed, leaving Spencer on the floor in hysterics._

 _Diana quickly scooped up Spencer and rocked him gently, the wand still in his hands. He cried into her shoulder, his breath hitching as a child's does._

 _She could hear her husband shouting upstairs, but surprisingly she didn't hear her other child crying._

William was back in the room by the time Diana had finished, with two nurses by his side.

"When I tried to tell him off he just stared at me. It was only when I spanked him that I got a reaction and after that he didn't talk for days. That was the first time we noticed his...behaviour.", Diana nodded along with her ex.

"Do you think you can tell us why you removed James from your lives?" Hotch asked hopefully. Diana sealed her lips and let her head hang, willing tears not to fall. William sighed and took a seat.

"The boy's were only 10 at the time. After... _it_ happened, I knew it wasn't safe to keep Spencer and James together. I left and I took James with me. It was the hardest decision of my life, but I couldn't risk Spencer and Diana's lives anymore", William took a shuddering breath.

"Wait...that's the reason you left Spencer?" Emily gasped. William nodded sadly.

"We always thought you just left...because...because you couldn't deal with Diana's illness", Morgan scowled.

"James was making Diana worse. I could see it happening before my eyes. I had to do something, you have to understand that."

"We understand", Hotch said.

"At first we moved to a different state. I joined a firm there and enrolled James in a school for children with behavioural issues. I couldn't contact Spencer or Diana in case James found out. I had made sure that they'd moved house so James couldn't return to our old address. I knew he'd try to. The first time he tried was when he was 14. He came back and destroyed much of our apartment. We never spoke much...", William chuckled a little, "I felt more like a prison guard. When he was 16 he took my car and was involved in a hit and run...the boy survived...", Garcia took a sharp intake of breath. "The boy looked just like Spencer... after that, he was in prison for 5 years...he should've gotten longer, but the boy wasn't hurt, just a few cuts and bruises. I tried to make him come back when he was released, but he had already gone...I even tried to find him, for Spencer and Diana's sake, b-but part of me never wanted to see him again. I would've returned to Diana, but she was already in Benningtons."

"Is that when you took him out of your records?"

"I took him out of Spencer and Diana's when we first left. After he ran away and I couldn't find him, I decided to take him out of mine."

Emily bit the inside of her gum, she had to ask what everybody wanted to know. "What was... _it?_ What was the reason that you left?"

William gulped audibly before continuing. "Like I said they were both 10 at the time. They'd finished school early..."

 _James glowered at his brother. Spencer was clutching his test in his hand;_ _a proud grin smacked on his lips. The paper said '100%' on it, it was just another one of Spencer's perfect results that he couldn't wait to show his parents, especially since he was a few grades ahead. James looked down at his test. 56%. He could easily steal Spencer's test and show it as his own, he thought to himself. He only had to grab it._

 _The bus stopped and Spencer sprinted down the aisle. Obviously, with how distracted he was with his test, he completely missed the foot stretched out to trip him. He stumbled over, dropping his test. The kids were laughing at him as he blushed. They saw James coming down the aisle and quickly pulled their feet in. James glared at them, but not for what they did, it was to ensure that it didn't happen to him._

 _"Get up!" James growled, giving his brother a small kick. James' eyes caught Spencer's test ahead of them and he jumped over (and on) his twin to grab it. He snatched it up and high tailed it off the bus._

 _"NO! Please, James! Wait!" Spencer begged, struggling to his feet. A few kids on the bus pushed and jostled him, making it difficult for him to find his feet and chase after his brother._

 _"JAMES!" Spencer yelled, stumbling down the steps._

 _"You alright, Buddy?" The bus driver asked kindly, sending looks of disappointment to the other kids on the bus. Spencer couldn't answer, as soon as his feet touched the pavement he was chasing after his brother. James was faster than him and he knew it, but he also knew James would burn his test like he had done with his collection of David Rossi books._

 _He ran all the way to their house, the door was already flung open and he lept up the stairs._

 _Diana was sat on the couch trying to see herself through the aftermath of a particularly bad episode._

"I knew that the boys only had half a day and I had managed to get some hours off to come home and spend it with them", William explained and the BAU nodded, waiting patiently for more.

 _James slammed the bathroom door and filled up the sink. He knew that he couldn't pretend the test was his now and that was all Spencer's fault. He had to make his little brother pay._

 _He heard Spencer's footsteps on the stairs as he turned off the taps._

 _Spencer tore into the bathroom just as James ripped up his test and dropped it into the water._

 _"NO!" Spencer cried, rushing over to the sink and trying to rescue the pieces of paper. The ink was already running and the 100% mark had all but dissappeared._

 _"You couldn't just let me have one thing!" Snarled James grabbing his brothers hair and throwing him into the wall._

 _Spencer tripped over his own feet as James pushed him again and his head landed with a painful crack into the porcelain sink._

 _"Help!" Screamed the smaller 10 year old, touching the back of his head and finding it sticky. James yanked Spencer up and held him close to his face._

 _William parked his car and frowned when he noticed his front door open. He stepped out and cautiously walked up to their door. He peered in and saw Diana sat last looking dazed. He then heard a scream from upstairs._

 _"This is for ruining my life! Maybe they'll finally notice me if you're gone", spat the older twin and before Spencer could take a breath his head was thrust into the sink._

 _The water was cold and stung his red and sweaty skin. He hadn't taken a breath beforehand, so already he struggled against his brothers hold. He knew the average length of time someone could spend underwater, but every single fact he knew seemed to vanish as he panicked._

 _James watched as his brother smacked his hands against the sink trying to push his head out. James pushed harder._

 _Spencer's small hands reached up and tried to bat away James. James gritted his teeth and wrapped his fingers into Spencer's hair, which was slick with blood and held him in place._

 _He watched with pleasure as Spencer's small body began to buck and convulse. Spencer's efforts dwindled as the fight left him._

 _James felt a smile creep over his lips and Spencer stopped kicking and hitting._

 _William opened the boy's bedroom door in panic. Neither Spencer nor James were in there. He stood in the hall glancing around and saw the bathroom door was shut. He smacked into the door and almost collapsed at the sight._

 _James held Spencer's head in the sink. Spencer was limp; his knees had buckled and his arms were strewn across the sink._

 _"What the hell are you doing!?" William Shouted, pushing his elder son off his younger one. James fell into the bathtub and felt tears prickle his eyes as he rubbed his painful back; William didn't care. He caught Spencer as he slipped down from the sink._

 _"No, no, no", he whispered, laying Spencer down gently and checking for a pulse. He listened to the boy's chest and breathing...he wasn't breathing._

 _"DIANA! DIANA, CALL AN AMBULANCE!" William screamed downstairs. Diana had seemed to have snapped out of her stupor and was scrambling upstairs, the phone in her hand._

 _"William wha-?" Diana asked, the phone glued to her ear. She stopped at the sight of Spencer._

 _"Oh God! No! Not my baby...help him William...", Diana fell to her knees and stoked Spencer's wet hair from his eyes._

 _"He's not breathing! Have you called them!?" William demanded._

 _"Yes..yes...hello...i-it's my son...he's not...he's not b-breathing! He was...", Diana glanced at the sink. "He was under t-the water too long", she whimpered, gazing down at her unmoving son as William tried CPR. "Oh baby..baby, please wake up...my husbands trying CPR...the address? Yes it's..."_

 _William pumped on Spencer's small chest, stopping every few seconds to hear if Spencer was breathing. He tried mouth to mouth, Spencer's lips were tinged blue, before going back to pressing against his chest._

 _"He's bleeding William", Diana sobbed, dropping the phone and gently stroking Spencer's cheek._

 _James remained frozen in the bathtub. He watched with curiosity, a smile still stretched over his pale lips. Unlike his parents he was willing his brother not to wake up._

 _"Come on, Spencer", William pleaded, checking again for a pulse. "Come on, son", he pushed down on Spencer's chest and the small boy started to convulse._

 _"Turn him!" William ordered, helping push Spencer on his side as he coughed up the water he had unintentionally swallowed._

 _William gathered the boy into his arms as he continued to cough and shiver._

 _"Shhh...you're okay...you're okay", he whispered patting Spencer's back as he cried and rasped._

 _James jumped out of the tub, anger bubbling inside of him and he stormed from the room. Neither parent noticed him as they held Spencer tightly, soothing him until the ambulance came._

"They kept Spencer in the hospital for a week. In that time I packed away mine and James' things and sorted out all the details of our move. I went to see Spencer before I went. I told him that me and James were leaving and he begged me not to go. He kept throwing statistics and facts at me and I-I t-told him-", Williams voice shook slightly. "I told him that we weren't statistics", William whispered.

Morgan stared at William and felt any bad feelings he had for the man ebb away. He wanted to applaud the man. He wanted to hug him. He'd been so wrong about William Reid; Morgan finally realised where Reid got some of his personality traits from.

"That's why we have to find him...James has killed Spencer before...he _will_ do it again...I-if he hasn't already a-and we might not be able to save him this time," William mumbled.

* * *

Spencer lay on the rough ground; his breathinhg shallow as he tried to calm himself after another panic attack. It was cold and dark...so dark; Spencer continued to tremble violently. Everything hurt. His entire body ached with pain and he didn't dare more for fear that he'd aggrovate his injuries.

He lay on his side, in who knows where, praying that his team would find him. His family...they'd all be looking for him... _They have to be,_ he thought hopefully. He knew that anytime now Morgan would storm through the doors and resucue him. Spencer sighed with relief at the thought.

 _Anytime..._ Reid thought, looking in the general direction he knew the door was in. _Any-_

A small beam of dim light trickled above his head. He tried to stretch his neck up to look over the muddy walls of the hole he was in.

"M'rgn?" He mumbled. No answer.

"James?" he asked fearfully. "J-James...help m-me...p-plea-please..."

The door shut and Reid was plunged into darkness again. His breath hitched.

Whoever had come in was now shut in with Spencer.

* * *

 **Phew, I had to do some work on this chapter, I made it shorter by taking a big chunk and putting it in the last chapter and I couldn't leave you guys with measly 1k words** **, so this is what you got.**

 **I had to put a bit of the real Spencer in this because I miss him!**

 **So now you know! Leave a review on what you think about the reveal, I'd love to know.**

 **Thanks for your reviews and support.**

 **Hopefully, I'll see you tomorrow in the next chapter; things are about to get interesting!**


	5. Stories

**(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or it's characters)**

 **Thank you guys so much again! The reviews are making me so happy!**

 **Thank you ahowell1993, Kakak195, Rebecca1, the 3 guests, Sarry22, womanreligiousfan, Ash59, and bigtimedreamer101!**

 **I came to a little bit of a stump in this story...the only way to overcome it is to keep writing and it's not in this chapter, but let's hope I can figure it out by the next chapter.**

 **You will start to see a common theme of memories. I really want to show how much James effected Spencer's childhood...oh! I think I've just figured out how to get past that little hitch I was talking about, phew, I was worried about that... anyway, so all these sections in italics are the stories. Basically, James likes to tell stories, so you are about to find out (in an AU type way), why Reid is how he is.**

 **Please review! Favourite, follow, alert, all that shebang if you want to be alerted on a new chapter.**

 **Thanks again, your support is much appreciated.**

* * *

Hotch glared through the one-sided window at the imposter. _A wolf in sheep's clothing_ , he thought bitterly.

William was stood beside him, a darker look on his face. He'd managed to convince an almost hysteric Diana to stay with Garcia and her carers. He, on the other hand, would not

"What are you going to do with him?" William asked with no emotion in his voice, he couldn't even will himself to feel any emotion towards the elder twin.

"We have ways to get information", muttered Hotch. "We let them think they're in control and they reveal more than they need to."

"When he was younger he liked telling stories. He used to base them off of us and surprisingly most of them were honest. He's probably going to want to tell you stories of his childhood."

"We'll use that; he might reveal something about Spencer's location." Hotch nodded to Rossi and the Italian walked into the room, JJ followed.

Garcia walked in, a laptop in her clutches as she shot William Reid an incredulous look.

"I looked through Spencer's data and I found his old medical records. I'm surprised you weren't arrested for abuse", she murmured.

"I didn-"

"I know that, but if you look at this that's what it looks like. Shall I list them?" She glanced at her laptop, clearly angry.

"January 2nd, 1984, Spencer Reid, age 3, admitted for a fractured ankle. September 18th, 1984, age 3, Spencer Reid, 2 broken ribs. March 8th, 1985, age 4, Spencer Reid, concussion. March 22nd, 1985, age 4, Spencer Reid, deep laceration across the forearm. August-"

"Okay, Garcia", Hotch muttered, glaring up at William.

"Oh, I could go on Sir. Spencer could write a dissertation on his own medical records", she added.

"Let me see",

Morgan took the laptop and scrolled through all the ER visits. He found a big gap between 2. The first was when he was 10 and Morgan felt his stomach drop when he reaslised it was the same incident that William had described. 'Spencer Reid, age 10, admitted for deep head abrasion, serious concussion, severe blood loss, water on lungs...' Morgan looked away from it and found the next one which was for a broken nose when he was 15.

William was looking down guiltily.

"Did you not reaslise how much James was hurting Spencer?" Hotch questioned.

"Spencer would never tell us. When he fractured his ankle he told us he'd fallen down the stairs, we heard him crying and just found him at the bottom...I never thought James would push him...Diana thought Spencer was just clumsy, she even nicknamed him crash. It was only when he sprained his arm did we suspect something, he'd told us that he'd tripped outside while playing with James. James told us he'd fallen off his bike."

"Why didn't you separate them when you find out?"

"We thought we could keep him safe, but Diana got worse and so did James until he tried to kill Spencer."

"How could you not notice a lifetime of abuse. No wonder Reid has trust issues", growled Morgan.

"It's not entirely his fault. That man in there is to blame. Besides, It's in the past, we need to focus on finding Reid now", Emily said, turning back to the window where JJ and Rossi sat.

"Prentiss, take the laptop in, tell JJ you're taking over. I want to see what he says about these", Emily nodded at the order and hurried into the room.

"-and that's why I don't speak to Italians", James said absently, turning his head to Emily. "Who's this?" he asked.

"JJ, I'll take over for now. Has he said anything?" the blonde shook her head, and while still glaring at James she departed.

"I have _actually_ , I was just telling Dave why I hate Italians"

"Shut up", Emily snapped, revealing the screen to him. "Do you recognise this?" James looked at the screen and grinned.

"Hey, Boys will be boys. Spencer was always very...clumsy", He shrugged.

"How did he fracture his ankle."

"He fell down the stairs."

"Try again."

Don't I get a lawyer?"

"No", Emily and Rossi said in unison.

"I didn't mean to that first time", James sighed. "We were playing..."

 _"TAG! You're it!" James yelled at the small toddler sat on his bed. Spencer's big brown eyes widened in confusion._

 _"I'm weading", Spencer said, sticking his nose back in the book._

 _"And I wanna pay", James yanked on Spencers arm and pulled him up._

 _"No. I don-", He pushed Spencer out onto the landing, waiting expectantly._

 _"You have to tag me back!" James demanded._

 _"No"._

 _"Do it!"_

 _"I'm telling Daddy", Spencer cried, heading towards the stairs._

 _"No! You won't tell him anything!" James yelled smacking Spencer harshly. Spencer lost his balance and fell forward, crashing down the stairs. As soon as he reached the bottom, he sat up unsteadily and began crying, staring at James at the top of the stairs, with great fear._

 _James ran to the bedroom and hid under the bed. But even as he anticipated the punishment, he felt his adrenaline pump and he seemed to find great enjoyment in what he'd just done._

 _Lucky for him, Spencer was too scared to tell his parents that James had pushed him, and for the rest of their lives together Spencer never once snitched on his older brother._

It was only then that I realised how good it made me feel to hurt my brother. You should try it, it makes you feel so much better", with that Rossi stood up and left. "What's wrong, Dave? Haven't you considered it?" He called after the Itialian.

"Enough playing. What have you done with Reid?" Demanded Emily.

"Don't you want to know how I pulled this off?"

"No. I just want to know where Spencer is", James pouted.

"You're no fun, I want the blonde."

"You don't get to make demands."

"I think you'll find that I can. Do you want to find your agent or not? Now bring in that blonde beauty", James said crudely, leaning back in his chair, a grin across his lips.

"Oh you're going to be precious in prison. I wonder who's bitch you're going-", a soft cough stopped Emily and she glanced up to find Hotch at the door motioning for her to leave.

"Bye, feisty", Chuckled James, giving her the best wave he could with his hands chained up.

JJ brushed past Emily, fixing her a hard stare.

"Why did you pull me out?" Emily exclaimed when the door shut.

"I know you don't like it, but he has us under his thumb right now. We need to give him what he wants and let him think he's in control."

"He is!" Emily cried.

JJ watched the man in front of her and couldn't believe how much he looked like Spencer. She couldn't understand how someone could look so innocent and yet be so...evil.

"Did he ever tell you why he's afraid of the dark?" James asked JJ, not looking up to acknowledge her. JJ narrowed her eyes, wondering where he was going with the question.

"Yes, it's because..." ' _because of the inherent absence of light_ ', JJ smiled sadly at the memory.

"because..? He didn't tell you the real reason, did he? He would've had to tell you about me if he had told you", JJ's head whipped up and her eyes narrowed on the Spencer lookalike.

"What did you do to him?"

"Are you willing to listen to my story this time? You and Dave ignored me last time." JJ wanted to say no, just to see the disappointed look on his face, but she knew she couldn't.

"Yes." She growled. James smirked and lent back, settling himself in for the next story.

"Well, Jenifer, it started when we were 6..."

 _James pulled the duvet over him, when his eyes caught 8 big hairy legs crawling at the foot of his bed. He screamed and scrambled away, cowering behind his nightstand._

 _"James?" Spencer's small voice filled the darkness and he flicked on the bedside lamp. He squinted at his brother before his eyes landed on the big spider at the end of the bed. Spencer's eyes went wide and he hopped down from his bed and hurried over to the spider._

 _"Wow! Look how big it is! It's a Paradosa crassistyla, part of the Wolf Spider family! You can tell from its stripy legs and the way that the body looks like an hourglasses" he cried with excitement, gently picking up the spider and letting it crawl over its hands._

 _James trembled and watched his brother in complete horror._

 _"Are-aren't y-you scared?" He whimpered, feeling a tear fall down his cheek as the spider crawled around menacingly._

 _"No. Actually, I'm not araid of anything", Spencer said absently. James glowered at him._

 _"I hope it bites you", he hissed. Spencer's smile dropped a little._

 _William stumbled in, rubbing the sleep from his eyes._

 _"You two are meant to be asleep. James, why did you scream like that? You gave your mother a fright," James pointed to the big, black monster in Spencer's small hands. Diana shuffled in, a dressing gown draped over her shoulders._

 _"Look! It's a Paradosa!" Spencer said, thrusting the spider up at his parents. Diana reeled back, but William took a closer look._

 _"Wow, that's quite something, buddy."_

 _"There might be more! You have to search for them, Dad. We have to kill them", James ordered._

 _"Kill?" Spencer squeaked, his bottom lip trembling. William patted Spencer's back._

 _"No. We won't kill them and we are not searching for them now, James. It's almost 11, we can look for them in the morning", William said, trying to assert dominance onto the elder twin._

 _"No! I'm not sleeping in here then! And I won't help you find them!" Sulked the older boy._

 _Spencer was bouncing on the balls of his feet, letting the spider crawl up his arm. "Can I help, Daddy?" He asked excitedly._

 _"Of course you can", William turned to his wife, who was looking at the bug in disgust. "Look, Diana, its harmless."_

 _"I don't like them, Will. You won't change that. Come on, James sweetheart, I'll set you a comfy bed on the sofa", she promised, offering her hand to James. Spencer always took her hand, but James had always refused, this occasion was no exception. He stomped past his mother._

 _"Can we keep this one?" Spencer asked softly. William smiled and held out his hands to take his son's friend._

 _"We sure can, where's your tank? I'm sure your stick insects won't mind sharing."_

 _"No, Daddy. Spiders eat stick insects. But I have a spare tank!"_

 _True to his word, William spent the first part of his day off hunting for spiders with Spencer. To Diana's dismay they found 3 more, which joined the newly name Oedipus, in Spencer's tank, which William dubbed 'Spencer's Spider Tank'._

 _Spencer begged his father to come outside so he could finally show him his bug kit, but William got paged by his secretary and had to leave. Spencer went out to play by himself. Diana sat outside in the sunshine with him, reading him poems as he added more and more bugs to his small container, which he examined and researched in his little big book. He even recorded them in a log book, naming each one before releasing them again._

 _"Where's your brother?" Diana asked, setting her book down and looking over to her youngest 4 year old._

 _"I don't know, Mummy...shall I find him?"_

 _"Yes. Tell him to come outside. Maybe he will play with you", she simpered. Spencer nodded, but knew that his brother wouldn't play with him, he never wanted to and when he did play he would always hurt Spencer or destroy what he was playing with._

 _"James!" Spencer called up the stairs. He heard the floorboards creak in his shared room and he hurried up the stairs. He opened the door and looked around. He frowned when his brother was nowhere in sight. He was about to leave when his eyes caught the open lid on 'Spencer's Spider Tank'. He gingerly walked up to it, removing the lid._

 _"Oedipus?" He whispered, standing on his tip toes to see his new best friend. When he caught a glimpse of the tank he fell back. Inside the tank where his 4 friends had been living, were the 4 corpses of said friends. Each spider was turned on its back, their legs still and curled up. Spencer felt hot tears trickled down his cheeks. "Oedipus..." he sobbed, covering his face with his small, skinny arms. He peeked out and saw his dead friends through the see through tank, this caused more tears to fall. His eyes graced James bedside table where a can of bug spray sat._

 _"Not afraid of anything, are you?" A cold voice hissed. Spencer whipped around, rubbing his tears away as new ones fell._

 _"You didn't have to hurt them, James. They didn't hurt you", Spencer sniffled._

 _"Who cares. They were spiders, you baby", Spencer's breath hitch and he sobbed a bit more. "You said you weren't scared of anything. That's not fair. So I'm going to help you."_

 _"Huh?" Spencer whimpered._

 _"I'm going to give you a fear", Spencer felt his brother's hands yanking him up and he couldn't fight back because he knew his brother was bigger and stronger._

 _"What are you doing?" Cried Spencer._

 _"It's for your own good", James insisted, shoving Spencer into their wardrobe and pulling it shut. He quickly grabbed the lock he'd found in the garage and locked the handles together. Spencer started to bang on the doors desperately._

 _"I'll let you out when you admit you have a fear!" James called, before skipping down the stairs and outside to distract his mother._

 _William sighed when he came home, embracing his wife and ruffling his son's hair. James pulled away and William rolled his eyes looking for Spencer to give him affection. His eyes landed on empty space. Spencer wasn't where he normally would be._

 _"Honey, where's Spencer?" William asked._

 _"James said he's been playing with his spiders. I haven't checked on him for obvious reasons. I'm not going near those things, William", chided Diana. William cracked a smile. He left his wife to cook and headed upstairs. The boy's door was pulled shut and so he knocked lightly on it._

 _"Spencer?" No answer. He opened the door and found the room empty. He looked over Spencer's neat side of the room and James'cluttered side. Spencer had a small bookcase, brimming with books, so many that there were several stacks piled neatly beside it. His chemistry sets were packed neatly in boxes, alongside his bug sets and the journals he kept on the creepy crawlys he'd find. James side had clothes scattered in all places but the half opened chest of drawers. A slingshot lay here and a mask lay there. William's attention focused on the tanks on Spencer's side. He had three squeezed together on his chest of drawers. One contained his stick insects, the other his toad; Leopold, and then his most recent addition, Oedipus and his yet to be named friends._

 _William noticed the lack of movement in the third tank and took a closer look. He sighed when he saw all 4 spiders had kicked the bucket. He prayed Spencer hadn't seen. Maybe I can tell him I set them free, he thought, lifting the tank down quietly. It was at that moment that he heard soft crying. William set the tank down and listened. He heard it again; close to him._

 _"Spencer?" He called._

 _"Daddy!" A tiny voice broke through the quiet and William turned to the wardrobe. He gaped at the lock._

 _"Spencer? Are you in there, buddy?" He said, tapping the door gently._

 _"Daddy!" Was all Spencer could respond, he was on the brink of hysterics again. William gazed around and caught sight of a key on James bedside table, he also saw the bug spray beside it._

 _"It's okay, Daddy's going to get you out", William promised, fumbling with the key before unlocking the door. He ripped the door opened and felt his heart break a little at the sight. Spencer was cowering up against the back of the wardrobe his hands down over his eyes. William leaned inside and gently picked Spencer up, pulling him into his embrace, wrapping his arms tightly around Spencer's shivering body. Spencer's sobs hitched as he tried to calm down, his eyes wide open, too scared to blink because of the darkness it promised._

 _"It's okay. Shhh...I've got you, you're okay. It's going to be okay", William promised, pressing his lips to Spencer's head and rocking him gently._

 _That night Spencer had laid in bed shivering, watching the lamp. Diana came and tucked them in and William came to double check. His visit to James was even briefer than normal after the punishment he'd given his older son. He sat on Spencer's bed and stroked his hair._

 _"You okay?" The small boy nodded, although, clearly he wasn't. William talked to him for a few minutes before standing up. He went to turn off the bedside lamp when he felt a small hand hold his and he turned back to the younger twin._

 _"Please can you leave it on, daddy?"_

James finished his story with a satisfied smile. JJ just stared back at him.

"Were you scared of your little brother? Did he intimidate you? I mean, come on, who can compete with a child prodigy like _your little brother_ ", JJ hissed, leaning back in her own chair.

"I was not scared of my brother. _I_ was his biggest fear...he never once admitted it, but I knew. I didn't tell you how he'd cower everytime I raised my arm, even if I was just stretching or reaching for someone. There's something so satisfying about causing so much fear." JJ was shaking her head at him, trying hard to control her anger. She had to act uneffected, she couldn't let him enjoy this.

"That story was boring", she said through a yawn.

"What? Wasn't there enough violence for you?" He asked with raised eyebrows, a little disappointed. "Oh I've got plenty of those don't you worry. Let me think. Oh I've got one..."

 _Spencer hid behind the partly closed door watching his father calming his mother down. William gently took the sharp letter opener from her hand. Spencer shuddered at the thought of what his mother must have been going though. His small 8 year old heart went out to her._

 _James watched from the end of the hall, his mouth twisted upwards when a despicable thought crossed his mind._

 _Spencer snuggled under his bedsheets the book he had been reading was clutched in his grip when William came in. He took the book from the boy gently, as he had done with the letter open that Diana had taken._

 _"Hey buddy. I'll be gone early tomorrow morning. I promise to be back when I can. Make sure your mother_ _takes her medicine, okay?" He stroked the messy tangle of hair on Spencer's head. He fiddled with his little fingers before meeting William's eyes._

 _"Dad?" He mumbled shyly._

 _"Yes, Spencer?"_

 _"Is Mummy getting better yet?" He asked. William licked his lips and gave Spencer a weak smile._

 _"I would say yes, but you know all there is to know about her illness. Her medicine helps, Spencer. So make sure she takes it", William delivered a quick kiss on his forehead before moving onto James who ignored what his father said to him. James' mind was far too busy. William sighed, leaving the lamp on for Spencer._

 _Spencer woke up to a quiet house._

 _"James?" He called out timidly._

 _"Mum?"_

 _He walked out into the hall and heard the clatter of cutlery downstairs._

 _"James?" He shuffled into the kitchen still rubbing the sleep from his eyes._

 _"Shut up! Mums still asleep, you don't want to wake her up do you?" chided James. Spencer went to answer, but found himself at a loss for words when he caught what James was holding. James looked up at Spencer and grinned._

 _"Uh..what are you doing, James?"_

 _"It's a game. Guess who I am", he said, and then he started to thrust the knife through the air madly, before laughing with crazed joy._

 _"James, do you know the statistics on injury caused by a knife. Especially when it is wielded by a child under-"_

 _"I said shut up! You're supposed to be playing my game", he started to slash the knife through the air again. "Look I'm mum! You're going to be just like her someday, aren't you?!" James laughed. He got closer still plunging the knife through the air._

 _"There is only a 29% chance tha-ahh!" Spencer screamed as the knife brushed against his pale flesh on his uncovered forearm._

 _"You better run Spencer!" He warned and Spencer didn't hesitate, he sped away with James chasing after him, stretching the knife out to cut his brother._

 _He caught the smaller boy several times digging the knife into his skin. He eyed the bloodstains that had started to cover Spencer's light green pyjama top._

 _"Stop!" Spencer pleaded, running down the stairs for the 3rd time and across the hall. Spencer saw the broom cupboard and remembered the small lock on the inside that his uncle Dan had installed to help him win at hide and seek. He never used it anymore because of how dark it was inside. But he had no choice, it was either the knife or the dark. Spencer grabbed the handle, yanking the door open and slipping inside, shutting and bolting the door before his brother could get him. Spencer squealed and jumped back when the tip of the blade poked through the thin wood._

 _"You can't hide forever, Spencer!" Spencer held his breath, tears rolling down his cheeks and panic building within him because of how dark the cupboard was."I'm only helping you! You need practice in case mum comes after you."_

 _Spencer released a sob and shrank down against the wall, wincing at the pain in his back._

 _"Fine! You're such a scardy cat!" James shouted._

"You chased your 8-year-old brother with a knife?"

"Like I said, I was teaching him. After me and Dad left, he was alone with Mum, so he probably had to do that everyday. So really I gave him life skills."

"You're sick", JJ muttered, standing up and heading towards the door.

"Where are you going? Spencer hasn't got much time left", JJ turned back towards him with a frown.

"Why? What did you do to him?" She growled.

"I was a bit more successful with that knife this time", the grin was back.

* * *

Spencer closed his eyes against the onslaught of pain. He'd been this way since the door had shut. His fingers brushed the knife and he yelped out, tears flooding his eyes.

 _I'm going to die...here in the dark.._ he thought, allowing the tears and blood to soak the dirt ground beneath him. He was beginning to doubt that anyone was coming to save him. Every time the door had opened Spencer faced more pain. _First James and then...her..._

He felt himself slipping away from consciousness as he had many times before in his short.

This time he welcomed it.

* * *

 ** _S_ o I don't know if some of you will know about the Oedipus complex. It is the idea that a child will be unconsciously attracted to their parent of the opposite sex, it's part of psychosexual development. It derives from a greek myth called Oedipus Rex about a prophesy that a son (a mythological character called Oedipus) would kill his father and marry his mother and so the son was forced to leave home because his parents feared the prophesy would come true. Years later the son returns and as revenge he kills his father and marries his mother, this fulfilling the prophesy. Yes I know it is beyond wrong! But I just wanted to show that Spencer has always been a genius which is why he named his spider after this complex. P.S. I'm pretty sure it is pronounced ee-d-i-pus, that's how we pronounce it in Britain anyway.**

 **I was thinking maybe this could have a sequel? I don't know, what do you guys think.**

 **I shall see you in the next chapter!**


	6. A Helping Hand

**(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters.)**

 **Thanks so much for the reviews! I will be sure to thank you all through PM as soon as I have time. I'm rushing this AN because I need to get this chapter out there.**

 **Please review and I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"You know what I hate? It's the fact that no-one seemed to pay attention to me unless I was bad. My parents had no idea I was bullied. I wasn't bullied for long; I'm not weak; I sorted my problems out", he sighed loudly, looking over at JJ and Morgan for a reaction. "Do you want to know why I was targeted?"

"Because you're a sadistic bastard?" Morgan asked in a gruff voice. James did an over the top laugh, wiping pretend tears from his eyes.

"No, no, Derek, that's what saved me from the bullies. No, it was because I share the same stupid face as him. There's something so punchable about our faces."

"I agree, I would love to punch your right now", Morgan growled.

"I mean the innocence", James paused and furrowed his brows, making his eyes wide and scared. JJ jolted up; she could swear that she was looking at Spencer, but then she saw the malice in James' eye that a psychopath just couldn't hide. "That's how he used to look when he asked me to stop hurting him. It just makes you want to continue... I expect that's how the bullies felt...anyway, we're getting off point, this is about me, not him."

"Well, go on then. Tell us how poor James Reid was tormented", JJ rolled her eyes.

"if you insist, Blondie"

 _James could see the high school kids on the field opposite their school. The two schools were separated only by a prim little garden with a statue of the guy who must have funded the construction of both schools, hence why they were both named after him. James glanced around and saw the kids his age bouncing around the playground. He saw his brother sat under a tree with a book. The other kids seemed to be ignoring him._

 _James couldn't stand being in the playground much longer. He didn't deserve it. It wasn't fair that Spencer got to go to classes with kids way older than him. It also wasn't fair that Spencer would be going to high school in a few years. James decided it was time to prove that he was better than Spencer._

 _He checked no teachers were watching and scurried over to the high school. He grinned when he passed the pretty girls. They chuckled at him. He was halfway into the field when he felt a rough hand grab him. Before he knew what was happening, he was hanging in the air, thick muscular arms holding him there._

 _They held James up, and the boy squirmed harder._

 _"What's wong, Spencey?" The eldest one asked in a baby voice._

 _"I'm not Spencer!" James demanded, smacking his hands at the older bully's wrists._

 _"Do you think we're dumb, pipsqueak?" Yelled another, cracking his knuckles._

 _"No! No, please! I'm not Spencer, I'm James! I'm his twin! Look, Spencer wears glasses, I don't!" The small boy begged._

 _"Not fall_ _ing for it, freak. You probably just took 'em off. Just because you think you're smarter-"_

 _"I don't think I'm smarter than you! Honest! Spencer does! He's always going around saying he's a genius!" The boys hesitated and considered the smaller boy who was a carbon copy of Spencer Reid. "I-I can bring him to you. Just let me go and I'll find him."_

 _"And why should we trust you?" Snorted the eldest._

 _"He thinks he's smarter than me too, even though I'm the older twin! I'd be happy to bring him here!" James was dropped to the floor, and he hopped to his feet dusting himself off._

 _"Alright, bring little Spencey to us. If you don't come back we'll find you. And beat the living shit out of you..." James gulped and nodded. "Go then!" James jumped and sprinted back across the field._

 _He was even angrier now. His brother was noticed by everyone, even the high school kids. Why did Spencer get the attention, James thought, why am I invisible?_

 _James scrabbled across the playground to the grassy part where his brother was sat innocently, with his nose buried in a thick book. James growled with anger._

 _"Hey, four eyes!" Spencer peeped up, a frightened lookons his face, when he saw James he eased up a bit._

 _"Hi, James", he waved awkwardly at his brother who didn't smile back._

 _"I have something to show you, but you've got to follow me." The 9 year old boy frowned at his twin, but stood up and followed obediently, more scared of the repercussions if he didn't do as James asked._

 _He scowled as James led him through the high school field, he glanced back nervously, hoping a teacher wouldn't see them._

 _"Uh...James.." he mumbled, hurrying after him._

 _"Just hurry up." James Snarled. He spotted the jocks at the end of the field and hurried over._

 _"Hey! Look! I told you! Twins!" Shouted James as he neared. Spencer slowed down, glancing nervously at the bigger boy's who he recognised._

 _"Well, would you look at that!" Chuckled the brown haired boy._

 _"Remember us, Spencey?" Asked the eldest, bending down to Spencer's level._

 _"Uh...James", Spencer whimpered, taking a cautious step back._

 _"I'm impressed, James", the eldest said, patting the boy on the shoulder._

 _"You'll leave me alone, now," James ordered. Spencer touched his arm, hoping to pull him away, but James shoved him off._

 _"Let's go...", Spencer pleaded._

 _"He can, not you", Spencer was trembling now._

 _"Wha-why?" He whispered._

 _"You need to be put down a peg, Kid", the shorter blonde haired one cracked his knuckles menacingly._

 _"James...h-help", Spencer blubbered, tears threatening to fall._

 _"Sorry, Spencer", he grinned as he walked away. Spencer tried to follow after him, but someone caught his arm painfully and yanked him back. He cried out, but James kept on walking._

 _"James! JAMES!" He heard his younger twin scream. He looked back to see Spencer on the ground, fumbling around for his glasss, before a heavy boot found them first and crushed them along with the small hand that had been searching._

 _James watched as the same boot smashed into his brothers chest, forcing him onto his front._

 _James shrugged and carried on walking back to school. He could hear grunts and jeers from the jocks, alongside thuds and rasps._

 _Spencer tried to stay awake, he knew he couldn't go to the hospital again. They gave him sympathetic looks and glared at his parents and he couldn't risk loosing them._

 _"HEY! What the-get the hell away from him!" He heard a gruff voice shout. Spencer shut his eyes willing the boy's to go away._

 _"See you later, Spencey", sneered one of the high school boys, he didn't know which. He heard someone collect spit in theirmouth and felt the warm liquid run down the exposed skin on his back where his top had ridden up._

 _"Jackson! Harrison! I know it's you! I'll be telling your parents about this!" Spencer didn't move. He could hear several heavy feet running away from him and one set towards him. He remained rigid, keeping his head in the ground and staying still. Play dead, he thought to himself._

 _"Oh God", the voice muttered. Spencer felt a hand touch his shoulder and he flinched._

 _"You awake, buddy?" A soft voice asked. Spencer couldn't hold it in anymore, he sobbed into the grass._

 _"Jesus, hold on, bud," he felt strong arms lift him and he started to panic, shaking violently and rasping through sobs._

 _"Calm down, I'm going to get you some help, Okay. What's your name?" Spencer peered up breathlessly into a set of kind green eyes. He felt himself being jostled as the man carried him up the field._

 _"S-Sp-Sp-spen-", Spencer coughed, unable to finish due to the pain._

 _"Spencer?" He nodded._

 _"Collin? Who's-" an English professor on duty saw the sports teacher running over carrying what looked to be a small boy. She nudged the Math professor beside her._

 _"What...Jesus! Is that a kid? What's he doing here?" He gasped, setting his mug of coffee down and rushing to Collin's aid._

 _"How old is he? He looks about 7, what happened?" The maths professor stared down at the boy who was barely fighting conciousnss._

 _"I saw 3 students whaling on him. All I know is his name. He said it's Spencer."_

 _"Set him down, I'll get one of the students to get the nurse out here. We might even need an ambulance."_

 _Spencer whimpered at this, trying to shake his head._

 _He felt himself being lowered onto the ground. He closed his eyes, wishing away all the people that surrounded him._

 _"Spencer? Hey sweetheart, can you tell me how old you are?" Spencer didn't open his yes and replied with a soft "9". The teachers exchanged a concerned look. Spencer knew they'd want to call his parents, but he didn't want to worry them. He already felt like he was disappointing them._

 _"What's your second name, honey?" The English professer asked, stroking his sweaty hair from his eyes._

 _"Reid. I-I go t-to that s-sc-school...please d-don't call my parents", he pleaded, the English teacher frowned at Collin who was busy assessing the boy for broken bones, which he found when he prodded Spencer's chest and he sobbed harder._

 _"It's okay, honey, they won't be mad..." the rest of the words were lost on Spencer as he succumb to the darkness._

 _James sat in his home room, swinging his legs eagerly beneath him._

 _"James", the teacher called._

 _"Present."_

 _"Spencer?" No one answered, the teacher looked up confused._

 _"Has anyone seen Spencer? James?"_

 _"I saw him running over to the high school, Miss. I told him not to."_

* * *

Hotch watched the man who they'd believed to be Spencer. He was sat quietly, looking around the room slowly, as if he was savouring it.

"What are we going to do, Hotch? It's not worth risking Morgan being in there, he was ready to strangle the guy when he finished that story", Rossi murmured. Hotch sighed, tearing his eyes from the young man.

"I'll go in next", he said.

"You sure you want to hear more of those...stories?"

"I don't have any choice. We need to get to Spencer back and this is the only way."

* * *

"Morgan, you need to calm down-"

"I had no idea, Emily! We have cases involving abuse victims all the time, and I never knew that Spencer was just as much of a victim as them", Morgan seethed, barrelling down the stairs with Emily trailing behind him.

"Morgan, wait up!" She yelled breathlessly, skidding next to him as he stalked towards the door. "None of us knew. Reid wanted it that way. You know he hates to be seen as weak...this isn't going to help his self-confidence", she mumbled.

"Screw his self-confidence, I'm more worried about getting him back in one piec-" Morgan stopped mid-sentence staring ahead of him.

"James! James! I need to see James!" A blonde airhead ran past Morgan and Emily and their eyes followed as she tried to get through security.

"I did something for him!" The security guards grabbed her arms and started to drag her away. "What are you- he's my boyfriend! Get your hands off me!" Morgan exchanged a look with Prentiss and hurried over to the frustrated blonde.

"Excuse me, ma'am. Are you looking for James Reid?" Emily asked politely.

"Yes! How did you know?"

"He's upstairs with us. We can take you to him", Morgan added, his anger replaced with curiosity and even a little bit of hope.

"Oh, yea! Yea! I have something important to tell him", she rambled. Morgan flashed his card to the security guard and pressed the call button for the elevator.

"What do you need to tell him?"

"Oh, I need to talk to _him_ about it", she said vaguely, twirling a finger through her blonde hair.

"Right", muttered Morgan.

* * *

"Uh..who the hell is that?" JJ asked as Morgan and Emily led the blonde into the viewing room.

"I'm Marsha Anderson! I'm James girlfriend", she replied cheerfully. The team exchanged looks of confusion.

"I need to speak to him", she added.

"What do you need to tell him?" Hotch scowled at her and she squirmed under his glare.

"Um...I need to speak to him...uh alone", Marsha hinted, motioning to the young man cuffed to the table and then to herself.

"Do you know why he's here?" Hotch questioned.

"No...he-uh he text me", she nodded with herself unconvincingly. "Can I speak to him..it'll only take a few minutes." Morgan rolled his eyes, clearly Marsha didn't know how interrogation worked.

"A few minutes?" She nodded. "Fine, you can head right on in", Rossi said, with a grin. Marsha gave him a broad smile and entered the room. Morgan whipped around to Rossi, ready to argue.

"Everything she says is being recorded. She might slip up and then we've got him", Rossi whispered, a sort of excitement on his face.

"How did she find out?" Hotch mused.

"She said-"

"James hasn't had his phone. He couldn't have text her," Garcia cut in.

"Then...then who told her?"

"Garcia, I want you to find everything on Marsha Anderson, I want her home address."

"On it sir", Garcia saluted, before typing rapidly.

* * *

James heard the door open and sighed, lifting his head up slowly. He had to double take when he saw his girlfriend stood in front of him. She scampered over to him and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Oh, baby! I've missed you! You've been gone for so long!" She cried, slipping into the seat in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" Hissed James.

"To see you silly!" She giggled. "I needed to talk to you, actually."

Rossi lent toward the window eagerly.

"Shhhh, I will explain everything. Just not now-". James started, but Marsha interrupted him.

"Oh, I already know. I knew he had to be your brother. He told me his name was Spencer and I thought it was just you playing a prank-"

"Not here", growled James glancing nervously at the window.

"It's okay, you don't have to worry about him anymore."

"Wait..what do you mean by that?" Marsha lent in close and winked.

"I took care of him."

"What did you do?"

"Look, it wasn't my fault. He kept saying he was Spencer and then for some reason he switched and said he was you. I was an idiot. I helped him out of the hole and untied him. I had no idea he'd try to run and I thought he'd get you in trouble if he got away so I-I..."

"You what?" James snarled. _She's stealing my thunder,_ he thought, _no, no, this cant be happening..this can't be-_

"This can't be happening..this can't be-"

"Babe? I thought you'd be happy...I helped you...you always complained how much of a nuisance he was", Marsha pouted, folding her arms and sighing.

"Let me arrest her," Morgan snarled, glaring at the girl on the other side of the window.

"No, she might reveal something. Garcia, what have you got on her?" Hotch looked over at Garcia who's eyes were glued to the laptop screen.

"I have an address sir...do you think-"

"It could be. But we need to be sure. Rossi, you're with me, follow my lead," the Italian nodded and let Hotch lead the way.

"-you had no right!"

"Stop shouting at me! I was just helping", sobbed Marsha.

"Marsha Anderson, you're under arrest", Hotch deadpanned, Rossi kept his expression calm, but beneath it he could feel himself twitching to frown.

"Wha-wha-?" She gasped, shrinking back from the two agents.

"Agent Rossi, be sure to let Mr. Reid out. My apologies sir, we were clearly prejudiced...I just couldn't accept that Miss Anderson could pull this thing off herself; I guess I was wrong", James scowled at him with confusion as Rossi guided him to his feet. Marsha smacked Hotch away.

"NO!" She cried.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but we have evidence that you kidnapped our agent", Rossi added.

"No, no! Honestly, please, I didn't! I-I didn't even know he was there, I've been living in James new apartment and didn't know tha-that kid was at _my_ house! I thought James was at our apartment and he wasn't and so I went to my house and I-I just found him! He was already like it, I swear!" Marsha begged, clearly she didn't realise how the mirror worked and she thought they hadn't heard her confession. Rossi dropped James roughly back into his chair, chaining his hands to the table again.

"Did you get that, Garcia? Send us the address," a cheery knock on the glass answered him. Marsha looked from each agent and then to the window.

"I don't understand? Am I free to go?" She asked, flicking her hair from her face. James, on the other hand, was trembling with anger.

"You stupid bitch! Do you realise what you've done!?" He spat.

"Huh?"

"You have just dropped us both in it! You stupid, stupid, stupid-" James was cut off by a fist smacking into his face, his head snapped back painfully. Rossi straightened up and stroked his knuckles.

"Guess what, this Italian hates you too, you son of a bitch. I hope Emily's right...actually, both of you will make good prison bitches," Rossi spat, his fist trembling to smack James again. He strode out, holding his head high as James sniffed profusely to stifle his nose bleed. Hotch followed quickly before he had to witness Marsha break down in tears.

"Take them to the station and have them held there. We have plenty of evidence to put them away for a long time," Hotch instructed the guard.

"That was quite a hit," praised Morgan, patting Rossi lightly.

"I could do it again," Rossi hissed.

"I sent the address, Sir! Now can you please leave and find my boy wonder...the real one," Garcia smiled, not bothering to hold back tears of joy.

"We' re all going..." Hotch looked at William. He knew that if Reid was on his last legs, his father would want to see him...one last time, "and you Mr Reid," William's eyes widened, but he didn't argue.

"Make sure Diana's okay," William said to Garcia, before hugging her. "Thank you," he whispered before hurrying after the other agents. JJ and Emily exchanged a look of heartache. They always believed that Diana and William had drifted apart, but now they realised that there was still love there.

"I'll have a bus on its way," Garcia called. She took one last look at Spencer's twin as his girlfriend was torn from the room. The young man was practically growling like a wild animal. She turned away from him. There was only one Spencer Reid in her life.

* * *

Diana sat at the roundtable, rocking herself soothingly. The nurses had tried to move her; tried to get her to lay down, to rest, but she'd refused. Memories were coming thick and fast and she was desperately searching for a good one.

She heard one of her sons laughing happily... _Spencer..._ she closed her eyes and saw her little 5 year old boy finishing a 1,000 piece puzzle and looking up at her, his wide brown eyes filled with joy as he giggled.

It wasn't long before she became absorbed by the memory.

 _"Well done, Spencer!" She cheered and he ran up and pounced into her arms. She hugged him back and peppered him in kisses. An alarm went off and she pulled him back, still smiling._

 _"You know what that means?" She asked. She could already feel herself growing weary at the very thought of medication._

 _"Medicine!" Spencer cried, jumping down and pulling her to her feet._

 _"Not so fast, Crash!" She laughed. No wonder he's always got a bruise or a scratch, she thought._

 _Diana and Spencer both froze when they got to the kitchen. James was stood on a chair, with an empty pill bottle beside him as he stirred the water in the sink. Diana caught sight of remnants of her medication floating around the sink._

 _"JAMES! No!" She cried, grabbing him and putting him on the floor and seeing what pills she could save. They were all ruined._

 _"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" She screamed at the 5 year old, who just glared back at her._

 _"I was making Spencer a drink! It's his fault!" James shouted back. Diana screeched in frustration._

 _"Why are you so-so horrible?!"_

 _"Why are you crazy!?" James yelled. "I hate you!" He yelled storming from the kitchen and up the stairs._

 _"Mummy...", Spencer whispered._

 _"Go to bed!" She snapped; Spencer didn't hesitate he sprinted for the staircase._

 _Diana sat rocking herself gently on the sofa. She knew she was having an episode, she didn't know if she was in the middle of one or at the start of one, but she was definitely having one._

 _It had been a few hours and Spencer couldn't stand being in the same room as James for much longer. He crept downstairs quietly and saw his mother sat on the couch. He peered around the edge._

 _"Mummy?" Diana looked around at the small voice and a smile spread across her face. She had a strange feeling surrounding her...as if she were intoxicated._

 _"Oh, hey baby! Come here! Come for a cuddle," she laughed, patting her lap. Spencer tiptoed closer and scrambled up onto her lap._

 _"You're a good boy," Diana mumbled, feeling his soft hair. "Such a good boy," Spencer felt scared in that moment. Diana could feel her mood change and she suddenly felt confused and angry. She looked down at her son and realised she hadn't punished him for what he'd done. She wrapped her arm around him slowly; she could feel his heartbeat speed up._

 _"Mummy-" Spencer's sweet voice was cut off suddenly when Diana's arm tightened across his neck, cutting off the air reaching his windpipe._

 _"Stop struggling, James! You deserve this!" She hissed, pressing harder. Spencer rasped and coughed, scratching at his mother's arm desperately._

 _"P-pl'se", Spencer gasped._

 _"M'my", Diana looked down and cried out when she saw Spencer's terrified eyes looking up at her. The anger melted away and she released him. Spencer heaved in a breath and lept from the couch._

 _"Spencer!?" She called. Spencer sobbed as he desperately pulled open the broom cupboard door and hid inside, locking it quickly._

 _"Spencer?"_

"Spencer?!" The nurses turned to Diana who was sobbing.

"Diana? Are you okay?" They asked.

"I almost killed him", she cried, pushing away the other flashbacks that threatened to expose her.

* * *

 **Sorry that last memory was dark...it was calling to me! I know psychosis doesn't come in that fast, but this is fiction; anything goes ;-)**

 **Please review, I'd love to know what you'd think.**

 **I promise to acknowledge all the reviews from last chapter and this chapter in the next chapter, but I've been super, super busy and I have an essay tomorrow, so I need to do some revision. Oh and I need to send my UCAS reference to my university's tomorrow and that is my ticket into one in order to do a creative writing course next years, so I've been a little focused on that. Don't worry, I'm completly dedicated to this tomorrow night!**

 **See you in the next chapter!**


	7. Operation Save Reid

**(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or it's characters)**

 **Warning, this will be a shorter chapter tonight because I've been busy today...I don't think my exam went too well...oh well, there's always next time.**

 **I would have written so much more, but I have homework to do and work tomorrow, so my apologies, I will do a longer chapter tomorrow.**

 **Thank you to ahowell1993, Womanreligiousfan, Sarry22, Falloutsam137, tlcroft, Rebecca1, Guest, AZCatmom and Ash59 for your reviews!**

 **Please review!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Spencer groaned in agony. He clasped the handle of the knife and tried to pull again, but it ended in another fit of hysterics. He slammed his fist into the ground, cursing how weak he was.

He lay there quietly sobbing. He'd come to terms with the fact that no one was coming for him. For two weeks 3 days 4 hours 12 minutes and 40 seconds he'd had hope; he hoped his team would bust through the door (Morgan kicking it down, obviously) and helping him out of the hole. Then they would hug and cry as families did, he'd have to explain who took him...he'd gone over the conversation 1,079 times in his head... _So I have a twin brother...yes he's a little on the psychotic side..._ Spencer had been dreading that conversation, but in that moment it seemed like heaven.

There was nothing left to cling onto; he searched through his never ending memories. He just needed one; just one good one before he made way for the light. The same light he saw in Tobias' cabin. It didn't seem so bad anymore...

He found one and closed his eyes, allowing the memory to swallow him.

" _Dad? Dad, can you open this please?" Spencer presented his dad with a packaged Rubix cube. William chuckled and retrieved a set of scissors._

 _"Did Santa get you this?" He asked a skeptical looking Spencer as he cut through the plastic._

 _"No, James did", he said, smiling broadly and pointing to his brother who was playing with the Lego set Spencer had picked out for him. William looked over incredulously. They're getting along, he thought._

 _"That was...nice of him."_

 _"Yea! He said that Mum made him pick a present, but I really like it," Spencer replied, taking the freed cube from his dad and changing the pattern._

 _William watched him with fascination as he solved it within seconds._

 _"You're a genius, Spencer. Don't let anyone tell you different", William said, ruffling his hair. Spencer peered up at him though his large circular glasses. He smiled revealing the baby tooth he'd 'lost' the week before. Spencer had told them that it was common for 7-year-old to lose their teeth, but William and Diana weren't entirely convinced after seeing the dark grin on James' face._

Spencer sighed as the memory morphed into a later one, around a month or two later.

 _"Please James! Please, please, please don't do this," Spencer begged. James shrugged and dropped the Rubrix cube into the fire he had made in the garden. Spencer yelped as the cube collapsed into the ash and started to melt. He could feel tears beginning to fall down his face._

 _"Oh, stop being a baby! You need to learn to be a man! Watch!" James ordered and he opened a bag he had recieved from the house, pulling out a book and throwing it into the flames._

 _"NO!" Screamed Spencer, lunging for his brother. It was too late; James dropped the entire bag into the fire. Spencer turned his efforts from James to the fire trying to kick it down. He could see pages burning in the air. The charred book covers with the blackened words 'David Rossi'-_

Spencer shook himself out of the memory. _Bad memory,_ he thought. He had a lot of those.

* * *

"Do you know where you're going?" JJ asked as Hotch spun the wheel erratically and turned down a street. Hotch didn't answer; his eyes focused on the road.

William barely noticed how fast the car was going, he too was focused on the road.

"We need to be prepared for the worst", Hotch muttered, startling William out of his stupor. The older man nodded solumnly, facing back toward the road.

"He's going to be fine, Hotch. He's a fighter", JJ said from the back. She wrapped her arms around her chest for comfort. _He has to be alright,_ she thought. Her mind drifted to all the stories she'd been told. _He's been through so much already..._

* * *

"Jeez. Can Hotch go any faster?" Morgan said, spinning the wheel and accelerating to keep up with his unit chief.

"Can't you?" Emily grumbled. Morgan snuck her a look and dug his foot deeper into the pedal.

Rossi reached up and grasped the handle on the roof.

"Is he slowing?" Emily asked.

"Yes", Rossi gasped in a strained and slightly high pitch voice.

"That must be it!" Morgan cried, pulling behind Hotch and slamming on the breaks. He unbuckled and jumped out. He was about to call out to Hotch, but the older agent had already scrambled from his car and charged for the door, with his gun at the ready.

Morgan hurried over, not waiting for Emily or Rossi to get out of the SUV.

"I'll do the honours", Morgan insisted, posing his foot in front of the door.

William chased up the path as Morgan kicked down the door.

"Clear!" JJ Yelled, leaving the front room.

"Kitchens clear!"

"Clear!" William bumped into all 5 agents as they met in the hall.

"Where is he?" JJ scowled.

"The video...", Rossi muttered.

"What about it?"

"Reid was in a hole...he has to be in the basement", the Italian exclaimed.

"Find it", ordered Hotch. They spread out, yanking doors open and listening out for any sound.

"Here!"

* * *

Spencer felt so numb. His fingers tingled. It was a different to the tingle of excitement he normally felt when he blurted out a fact of statistic. This tingling was cold and full of doubt. This tingle was a sign that his time on earth was dwindling.

He looked up the dirty walls and sighed. He could try and climb out, but he'd already tried and James had punished him. This time he had a 6-inch knife plunged into his side. So he remained still; staring out into the darkness praying for it to end soon.

His breath caught in his throat when he heard a dull thud from above. He held his breath, listening intently, all he could hear was muffled shouts and several heavy footsteps. Spencer could feel tears soaking his cheeks again. _James is back...a-and he's come with others,_ Spencer told himself as he trembled violently.

"St'pid," He Hissed at himself, hitting his head against the floor. _Why couldn't you just die! That was all you had to do,_ he thought. He cried harder as he heard the footsteps divide and one set was marching directly above him. _Let it be quick,_ he pleaded _, please._

"Here!" He heard someone call and he sobbed loudly. _You can't go down like this,_ his head snapped at him, _get up._ Spencer heard the steps coming closer and struggled up, leaning heavily against the wall, panting and swiping tears from his face. _I will not cry for him._

He tried to stand up, but the knife cut deeper and he mewed in agony.

"Hurry."

"No", Spencer yelled weakly, it came out as a croak.

Suddenly, the room flooded with light as the door crashed open. Light leaked from the hallway, down the stairs and over the mouth of the hole where Reid had been swallowed. _Don't say a word,_ his mind warned.

"That's it! That's it! Spence!" Reid's head jolted up at the sound of that sweet voice. It had been so long since he'd last heard it. He couldn't see her, but there was only one person in the whole world who called him Spence and she was most definitely there.

"J-jay-," Spencer croaked, trying to stand again.

JJ heard the small squeak and dashed towards the hole, closely followed by the others. She looked down and despite the situation she smiled. He was alive, that's all that mattered to her.

"Y-you f-foun' m-me," Reid mumbled through chattering teeth.

"Kid!" Morgan gasped, extending an arm down to Spencer. Reid stared at it and then at his weak legs... _no, I'm not weak,_ he thought.

"Are you okay, Spencer?" Hotch asked. Spencer squinted up at him as he gripped the wall to pull himself up. _First name..._ he thought, _they must have really missed me._

"Can you get out?" Emily asked, but before Reid could answer she had jumped into the hole and was taking his arm and helping him to his feet.

"E-Em'ly", he gasped, looking into her eyes. Emily smiled and held him tighter.

"We got you now", she whispered.

Hotch lent over the side of the dark hole and offered both of his hands.

"I'll give you a boost, can you get up there?" Emily asked, holding him when his knees tried to give way. He nodded returning a grin to her, he could've kissed her then. He opted for a hug instead, ignoring the pain in his side as he wrapped his thin bruised arms around her neck.

"Thank you", he breathed.

"I want one of those!" Demanded JJ through tears of relief. Reid released Emily reluctantly and turned to the hands. He reached up and caught Morgan's, Hotch lent down further and grabbed the young man's cold hand, wrapping his other hand around Reid's skinny arm to get a better grip.

"Ready, Pretty Boy?" Morgan asked, securing his own grip on the pale arm. Reid nodded and they started pulling. Emily lifted Reid easily, surprised at how little he weighed. Spencer dug his tired bare feet into the dirt wall, helping Morgan and Hotch's efforts.

Finally, after weeks of darkness; sunlight from the hallway danced across his face. He almost passed out with happiness. JJ gave Emily a hand out of the hole and they all stared at Reid. Morgan and Hotch were still holding onto him, for fear that he'd fall...or perhaps the real reason was that they didn't want to risk letting him go or out of their sight ever again.

"We need to get you to a hospital," Rossi pointed out, looking over Reid with concern.

"Y-you ca-came", Spencer's voice broke slightly. Hotch pulled his young agent into a hug. Spencer had done this to him after the Hankel case, he had needed someone to hold onto...this time Hotch needed him. Reid tried to hug him back as best he could without alerting them to the agony in his side.

"I think Garcia wants to keep you in her office from now on. She promised she'd feed you and give you coffee, but you're not allowed to leave", Morgan chucked, ruffling Spencer's hair. Hotch broke apart from the hug and took Reid face in his hands, frowning as he searched his face for pain. Spencer's eye was black with bruises and his cheek and forehead showed signs of past bruises with one more recent one on his jaw.

"Sorry, Reid, But I like Garcia's idea," Hotch mumbled. Reid smiled closed lipped through the pain. His eyes skimmed the others, his smile growing bigger with each face he passed until he found his father's face.

"Dad?" Spencer murmered. He stumbled forward slightly, Morgan still keeping him up.

William couldn't hold back any longer. He coiled his arms around Spencer before the young man collapsed.

"W-what are you d-doing here?" Spencer rasped.

"You're my son. I knew it wasn't you", he exulted, breathing in Spencer's hair, which had been tainted with an earthy scent. Spencer pulled back slightly, leaning heavily on his father.

"Who..." he mumbled, confusion crossing his features.

"Oh, sorry, we will explain when we get you out", William said. Spencer nodded, sweat dripping down his brow. Outside an engine roared.

"Can you walk, Reid?" Hotch asked kindly, taking Reid's other arm. Spencer nodded slowly, he tried to take a step, but his knees failed him and he shook his head.

"It's okay, we'll go slow", Hotch smiled, but Reid didn't smile back. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he slipped out of William's grasp. They caught him in time before he fell to the ground. Hotch's leg brushed the knife in Reid's side and he cried out loudly.

"What is it?" Morgan asked, coming to their aid. Spencer rasped, he could taste blood on his lips. His fingers wrapped around the knife handle, hoping he could finally pull it out.

"Woah, Woah", Emily exclaimed, holding Spencer's hands away from the knife.

"G't ou'", he pleaded, trying to reach for the knife, but Emily kept his arms back in her gentle grasp.

"Wait, Reid. J-just hold on", Morgan said in a strained voice. He gently set Reid down onto the floor and bunched up the sleeve Hotch thrust into his hand and pressed it around the knife. Spencer yelped out, his eyelids fluttered as he fought against Emily's grip. Morgan glanced nervously at Hotch.

"Where are the medics?" He asked desperately. Hotch turned and saw the EMT's bustling over.

"Over here!" Hotch shouted, waving them towards him.

"Reid, you need to stay awake", Hotch glanced down to see Spencer breathing hard, his eyelids dropping with exhaustion. Morgan pressed the fabric harder to stop the blood and Spencer yipped like an injured puppy as his flesh sliced along the sharp knife. "Sorry, Sorry", Morgan apologised.

Spencer caught sight of the new people entering and jerked even more, gripping Emily's wrists for dear life as she held them away from his wound.

"H-hide", he sobbed, shifting again as the strangers got closer. "H-he-he's he-here!" He whispered, closing his eyes to block the EMT's from his view. JJ caught on and knelt on Spencer's other side, opposite Morgan and next to Emily who was crouched above Spencer's head.

"Spence, it's okay. He's not here. He's in custody. I promise", she stroked her finger down his cheek and he calmed slightly under her touch. Spencer peeked through his eyelids and saw the blonde's soft face. A medic crouched beside the others and Spencer panicked again.

"NO! No, no, no!" He begged. His vision blurred and he heard James' sinister voice in his head. Voices called him from somewhere in the distance.

"No! No, James!"

He finally passed out.

* * *

 **I threw in a memory just to make it a bit longer.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please share your thoughts!**

 **Thank you guys as always for favouriting, following, reviewing and reading!**

 **See you in the next chapter!**


	8. Reunited

**(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters)**

 **Thanks for the reviews guys. Please keep reviewing.**

 **So last time Reid (the real Reid) was found! Woooo! In this chapter you guys will finally see a bit of Spencer!**

* * *

Hotch collapsed into a chair beside Rossi, handing the Italian a bland coffee from, which he took gratefully before staring back at the doorway.

"Did they say anything?" He asked taking a sip of the coffee and cringing at the terrible taste.

"Not much, just that he's still in surgery," Hotch shrugged, barely noticing the graininess of his coffee. Rossi sighed and gave up on the drink, setting it by his feet and returning to his previous position with his hands clasped between his knees.

Their ears pricked up when several sets of feet bustled past the family room. Morgan groaned as they went by and kicked the air impatiently.

Diana had her wide, scared eyes focused on the startling white floor tiles. Her trembling lips were the only sign she gave of life.

"Why is it taking so long?" Garcia whined, pulling her legs up and crossing them uncomfortably beneath her.

"It's only been three hours," mumbled Emily.

"Only!?"Garcia exclaimed, throwing her arms out in front of her dramatically.

"I could've finished my book by now," Rossi joked weakly.

"Spence would've read your _entire_ collection by now," whispered JJ and the others chuckled sadly. This died down quicker than it had started and silence took its place.

"Some of us need to go to Reid's apartment..." Hotch muttered, breaking the silence. Rossi nodded and stood up.

"I can't sit like this much longer. I'll go check it out," he offered, adjusting his belt.

"I'll go too. Call us if there's any change whatsoever," Emily hopped to her feet, sighing internally as she stretched her stiff legs. Garcia glanced up and gave a small smile.

"I will bombard you with an endless supply of messages", she said in an attempt to sound bubbly, she fell a little flat.

* * *

Rossi took the key from his pocket and slid it into its designated port. A click echoed between them. He pushed the door open slowly and led the way in.

"Oh..." Emily whispered, glancing around the apartment, marveling at how un-Reid-like it was and at the mess which Reid was incapable of making.

She moved to his tattered green couch which had been covered in a silky red blanket. Cigarette butts plastered the couch and it was clear that they had been put out on the arms; char marks littered the uncovered part of Reid's beloved couch. Emily could smell the remnants of alcohol and smoke that lingered in the air and over the couch.

Beers cans and bottles lay discarded over the wooden floor boards, which didn't appear entirely clean themselves. The kitchen looked as if a bomb had gone off, a similar situation to the floor. Emily pushed the cans around on the counter, looking for evidence.

Rossi was staring at the bookcases, shock registering over his features. The books lay scattered in front of the bookcase, many open or bent, several torn pages lay about the place.

"I think James was planning on making the place his", Rossi grunted, picking up a book and straightening the dust cover. " _The narrative of John Smith_ ". He opened it and read the quote from Thomas Merton. He sighed and set it gently on the coffee table, knowing that the book meant a lot to Reid.

Emily left the kitchen and headed to the bedroom. She pushed the door open and groaned at the sight of the unmade bed and the cluttered floor. She caught sight of a pair of silk pink pyjamas on one of the pillows. Marsha had also made herself at home.

She opened the wardrobe and gasped. The railing was empty. There were one or two of Reid's outfits lay across the floor that James had mixed with his jeans, but except for that, all existence of Reid had been stripped from the room.

"Son of a-," Rossi walked in and took in the mess.

"James' been living here this whole time", Emily Hissed.

"Where are Reid's clothes?"

"He must have got rid of most of them. He kept some so that we didn't get suspicious with his sudden change of clothes,"mused Emily. She turned to Rossi, unable to look at the mess that used to be Reid's home.

"Let's get out of here. We will take photos later and then clean up. I don't want Reid seeing it like this," Rossi nodded heavily and followed her back to the front room, taking one last glance at the apartment.

"Give me a second," he mumbled, wading through the empty bottles and cans to the coffee table and grabbed the book he'd placed there. He held it up for Emily to see.

"I think he might like this," the Italian simpered. Emily smiled giving him a nod of agreement.

They hopped back in the SUV just as Emily's phone rang.

"Prentiss...Okay...calm down, Garcia...we're on our way...", Emily motioned for Rossi to start the car. "We'll be right there."

* * *

Hotch stood bolt upright, knocking his empty cup on the white tiles; undissolved coffee granules peppered the floor. He was closely followed by William, who had to shake his legs to wake them up. Morgan and Garcia jumped at the sound and gaped up at the doctor who had just walked in. JJ removed her hands from under her thighs where they had been warming and were now numb and red.

"Family of Spencer Reid?" He asked, looking up from his clipboard with a kind sympathetic smile. _That's a good sign,_ Hotch thought, sagging with relief.

"Yes!" Garcia, JJ and Morgan cried in unison. Diana jumped slightly, resurfacing from her memory. The doctor looked doubtfully at the agents.

William stepped forward.

"I'm his father and Diana's his mother," he pointed to Diana. "And they _are_ family", William said folding his arms. The doctor shrugged, his smile returning.

"Very well. I performed surgery on your son and I'm pleased to say it was successful", a collective sigh filled the room. "The knife missed major arteries and veins; it did nick his small intestine and we had to remove a small section, but we have repaired the damage. There is a slight infection which we are treating with a course of antibiotics," he paused to wet his lips.

"W-what about t-th-the blood?" JJ asked nervously. "T-there was a-a lot-,"

"We were concerned about that; he'd gone into shock and we have given him two blood transfusions and and fluids for severe dehydration, but he is improving in regards to both. He is also malnourished, but I'm sure a good diet will solve that."

"His right ankle is broken from a fall of some kind. The injury is about a fortnight old and has started to heal in the wrong position; we will have to do more surgery where the bone is rebroken", Garcia winced at this, "and pinned in the correct position. He has been severely beaten, but the only other broken bones he has obtained are two broken fingers and four broken ribs which luckily didn't cause further complications. He's in recovery right now and I must warn you that he looks a bit worse for ware, but that's mostly bruising from regular beating. Are there any questions?"

"Is he conscious?" asked Hotch.

"He's coming round an-,"

"Did you give him narcotics?" Hotch interrupted.

"No. He was partly conscious in the ambulance and requested the EMTs didn't give him any." Hotch wiped his brow with relief.

"Although, I do not recommend it. Dr Reid's recovery is going to be painful and he his body may not heal successfully if he's in constant pain", the doctor insisted.

"Can we see him?" Diana asked in a small voice.

"Yes, but like I said, he is doesn't look too good, so be prepared. And don't say anything that may distress him, he's been through a lot and I don't know how much more his heart can take," the doctor added in a serious tone. He straightened and held the door open for the family. Garcia grabbed her phone and dialled Emily's number.

"He's in room 497; I'll take you to him."

* * *

Spencer started to feel the comfortable mattress beneath him and the warm blankets draped over him. It would've been peaceful if the element of pain hadn't made itself known.

The blanket wasn't protecting his arms and his fingers which were stiff with cold.

Something cold and hard was gripping his right index finger and he connected the loud beeping of the heart monitor to it. He wiggled his fingers and tried to unlatch his eyelids, but they refused to obey.

Suddenly, the quiet room became filled with the bustle from the hallway. He frowned, his eyes still closed as his ears picked up on the soft whispers and light steps that entered his room.

"Spencer?" Spencer's brow furrowed deeper. He could've sworn that was his mothers voice... _but she's at Benningtons._ W _here am I?_ he thought and he began to breath heavier.

"Spencer? Open your eyes, baby," it was definitely his mother's voice and he clung to it, using it to drag his eyelids open. He had to squeeze them shut again when the bright overhead light berated them. He shielded his eyes with the hand that he suddenly realised had two heavily bandaged fingers, a splint between them. He squinted and saw his mother's slightly blurry face. She was staring back at him with great concern.

"Mom?" He croaked, swallowing hard to avoid a coughing fit.

"Yes, Spencer. I'm here. We all are", Spencer frowned again and looked around, a shyness coming over him when he found his team and his father stood by watching him.

"Wha's goin' on?" He rasped, letting his hand drop weakly at his side, his eyes still narrowed as he waited for the room to get clearer.

"Don't you remember?" Hotch asked.

"Uh...uh-," his mind flickered back to James' malicious smile and his breath caught in his throat, the heart monitor picking up its pace . "W-Where's J-James?" He gazed around with terrified brown eyes.

William placed his hand on Spencer's shoulder to calm him.

"He's in custody, and I promise you; he will be going away for a long time," William said.

"H-how? H-how did you know I-it wa-was h-hi-Him?" Spencer stammered. Hotch frowned and then he realised that Spencer probably didn't know that James had been acting in his place.

"Your brother was caught out in a lie. Your parents came yesterday and exposed him a-,"

"Yesterday?" Spencer shook his head in bewilderment. "You knew I was missing before that, right?" The team shuffled guiltily, avoiding Spencer's confused eyes.

"Spencer, we didn't know you had a brother, let alone a twin," Morgan spoke up. It was Spencer's turn to look down shamefully.

"Sorry", he murmured.

"Oh no, no, no. You, my angel, have _nothing,_ and I mean absolutely nothing to be sorry about", Garcia scolded, wrapping her warm arms around his thin frame, holding him close to her, while remaining wary of his injuries. He gave his best effort to hug her back.

"Anyway. Oh, I might as well just say it. James posed as you until your parents came and told us the truth", blurted Morgan and everyone stared at him, Hotch frowned at him for being so blunt.

"Oh", Spencer mumbled.

"Morgan! The doctor said we shouldn't stress him out!" Garcia chided.

"There was no point in beating around the bush. Reid... I'm...I'm so sorry that I never realised you were gone. We should have seen that he wasn't you. He's nothing like you-"

"Morgan, w-we are identical, y-you can't blame yourself for thinking he was me. I-I should've told you...I'm sorry."

"Please, can you just be a little mad at us. You were missing for two weeks and we only realised yesterday", Spencer looked up at JJ with moist tawny eyes. "and stop apologising!"

"Sorry...I m-missed you," he stuttered. JJ held his hand tighter and kissed the back of it, hoping to transfer her warmth.

"You can be a little bit angry, you know," she implored.

"The wh-whole time I-I was... _there,_ I hoped that you'd come find me. I almost g-gave up a-an-and then you came," Reid exclaimed, giving them a genuine smile.

"But we were going about our lives while...while he-," Spencer shook his head wearily.

"No...I-I don't want to talk about it...not yet," he whimpered.

"You expect us to forget this?" Morgan growled involuntarily when he thought of all the stories James had told them. He cursed himself when Spencer shrank away from him.

"N-no, I cant f-forget about it...I-I'm just not ready," He was pleading now and Morgan cursed himself even more.

"Of course, Reid. We will be here when you're ready to talk," JJ simpered. Hotch laid a hand on Reid's shoulder forcing his youngest agent to look up at him.

"You will talk to us, won't you? Not now, but promise me you will," Reid nodded slowly at his boss and felt safe for the first time in weeks.

"When can I leave?" He croaked and Hotch rolled his eyes. It was typical of the young man who hated being taken care of.

"I don't know, but I want you to stay as long as the doctors recommend," William told him. Spencer opened his mouth, but his father sent him a look that warned him not to argue.

"I'm not g-going back there," Spencer whispered.

"Your apartment?" Spencer nodded and looked down at his hands.

"I don't think you'd want to go back," they all turned and saw Prentiss and Rossi stood in the doorway, broad smiles on their faces. Emily rushed over and smothered Spencer in a hug.

"I'm so glad you're alright," she beamed at him, kissing his forehead and making him blush.

"Did you find anything?" Hotch asked and Emily grimaced.

"It's a mess. James and his girlfriend have been living ther-"

"In my apartment?" Reid gasped, he gave a compulsive shiver when Emily nodded. "I'm not going back," he repeated.

"Good, because we're not going to let you. You're coming to stay with me", Rossi ordered.

"I think it'd be better if he stayed with me," Garcia argued.

"Nu-uh, you'll corrupt him with your filthy mind. He's staying with me. I can protect him", Morgan insisted, crossing his arms.

"I live in a mansion! I have plenty of room. I don't think he wants to be cramped in either of your guest bedrooms," Rossi snorted and Morgan and Garcia gasped in offense. Before they could lay into him, the Italian hastened over to Spencer and handed over a book he'd been holding. Rossi winked at him before turning to Morgan and Garcia to argue his case.

Spencer looked down at the book in his lap, his father eyed it curiously. The dust cover with the title across had been bent and was torn partly down the middle. Spencer opened it gingerly and his eyes caught Maeve's handwriting. A tear slipped down his cheek; he couldn't help it. He'd been compartmentalising and his body scremed with emotion.

He closed the book and took in the damage James had inflicted on it. It's typically pristine state was no more. Spencer covered his face with his hands and let out a quiet sob.

* * *

James stalked his cell, his mind whirring.

He had so many questions, like: _is Spencer dead? Where's Marsha? Did she kill him? How can I get out of this one?_

Part of him hoped Spencer was alive. He wanted to be the one to kill his twin. And if Spencer was already dead... he shook his head angrily.

 _Spencer isn't dead_ , he thought. _Not yet._

* * *

 **This chapter was really hard to write because I was doing it whilst working on the computer all day at work, I'm surprised I managed to get anything done.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading! Please leave a review it would make me sooooo happy!**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I don't know how much longer this story is going to go on for, but it's coming to a close...but there is always a chance at a sequel.**

 **Also, I had another idea for a story yesterday, so when this does finish, I will have another one for you guys to sink your teeth into. (Oh and I plan on having a lot of young Spencer in this new story, it'll be a AU)**

 **That's all I have for you, see you in the next chapter!**


	9. Cookie Status

**(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters)**

 **Thank you so much for all your reviews. So thanks to spxxxxx, ahowell1993, Hippiechic81, Sarry22, tlcroft, and AZCatmom for your reviews on yesterday's chapter.**

 **It's 2 am and I have no idea what to write... I think I'll just start and see where it takes me...yea I'll do that. This will be set several days later.**

 **Please review and enjoy!**

* * *

Hotch walked through the waiting door, shutting it quietly behind him and taking a seat. He glanced up and acknowledged the chained young man before looking back down at the file.

"I'm glad to see Prisons treating you well," Hotch deadpanned. James glared at him through his swelled black eye. Hotch closed the file and looked up at James. The young man's professionally cropped hair had been completely shaved, stumble was beginning to sprout over his chin and his face was littered in scratches and bruises, similar to the ones he had inflicted on his twin.

"I fancied a change. I guess me and Spencer are identical again? I made sure his bruises were deep so that they'd last," James snickered. Hotch didn't react.

"Haven't you heard?" Hotch asked, putting on a mask of genuine concern. James hesitated and frowned.

"I've been in prison! You think I hear anything?" he snapped.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm not sure I'm the one who should tell you this," Hotch murmured, glancing at the window.

"Tell me what!"

"Spencer didn't make it," Hotch took a shuddery breath.

"What?" James hissed, unable to believe what his ears were telling him.

"He bled out minutes after your girlfriend stabbed him," Hotch explained, trying to keep his voice calm. James shook his head vigorously.

"No! You're lying!" He growled. Hotch's eyes locked with the young man's.

"Don't talk to _me_ about lying! If you hadn't held him captive then he would-would...he'd," Hotch turned away from James, pretending to stifle a sob. James gaped at him, his mouth bobbing open and closed. "What's wrong!? Have you finally gained a conscience?" Hotch spat. James' eyes appeared distant all of a sudden.

"It was meant to be me...I was meant to kill him," James mumbled.

"You make me sick," grunted Hotch getting up and turning from James. He waited for the door to shut before giving Rossi a thumbs up. Rossi bit the inside of his gum nervously.

"It's just precaution, Dave. If he got out somehow you know who he'd go after. He may even make friends and get them to do his dirty work. We can't risk it. Besides, he had no right to call himself Spencer's brother," Hotch reassured him.

The Italian nodded, but he couldn't help the feeling of dread that crept over him.

* * *

Reid lent down slowly and tied the lace on his left shoe. That was one of the only items of clothing that James had left him. Clearly, he and James shared the same taste in shoes, especially his beloved black converse. As for the rest of his clothes; James had only kept 2 shirts, 2 sweater vests and a blazer; they discovered the rest around the back of Reid's apartment where a small pile of ash remained. Lucky for Spencer, Garcia had used Rossi's wallet to get him several outfits (of her choosing) until he got back on his feet and could buy his own. Garcia hopped into his room, a huge flowery duffle bag slung over her shoulder.

"Ready!?" She chirped. Morgan strolled in behind with a wheelchair and Reid smirked at them both.

"No way."

"Uh, yes way! The doctor said he doesn't want you to even attempt to move that foot," Garcia jibbed, pointing to the white cast that dominated his right foot. He'd had surgery on it two days after he'd first arrived. He'd officially been in hospital for 6 days and William had allowed him to leave one day early because of 'good behaviour', which had involved putting up with Garcia's online shopping for new clothes.

"I can use the crutches," Spencer insisted, reaching over to the crutches which Garcia pulled out of his reach, causing him to pout like a child.

"You will not! You were stabbed for god sake! Now get in that damn chair or I'll call your father or worse...Hotch, and I'll tell them that you're disobeying me," Reid held his hands up in surrender. He sent Morgan a desperate look and he chuckled shaking his head.

"You don't want to face their wraths, so I'd just hop in if I were you," Morgan winked. Reid sighed inwardly and lowered himself off the bed, balancing on his good foot. Garcia grabbed his arm and guided him gently down into the chair. Once he sat down, Penelope lifted his plastered foot on the outstretched footrest, making it impossible for Spencer to escape.

"Now you're ready!" She beamed, ruffling his messy hair.

"Thanks," he said sarcastically, cringing as Morgan started pushing him.

"You better start expecting more of this," Morgan teased, causing Reid to groan again. Morgan rolled him down the hall where JJ and Emily were waiting. Spencer blushed wishing he could become invisible in that moment. He opted for a distraction. He looked up at Garcia and pointed to her duffel bag.

"What's that for?" He asked.

"This?" She asked, swinging the heavy bag about. "Well we couldn't quite decide where you were going to stay because we all wanted to keep an eye on you. So we compromised," Reid frowned and turned back to what was happening ahead of him, bearly registering that he had been moving. They were almost at Morgan's truck.

"What compromise?" He asked. Garcia opened the boot and slung her bag in, Reid caught sight of another duffel bag, this one was plain black.

"Careful, Baby Girl. My new sunglasses are in there," Morgan warned.

"Relax. The compromise is that we are staying with you," she announced. Morgan parked Reid's chair beside the passenger door.

"What?"

"Well, Rossi wasn't budging so we said that if you got to go to his place then we got to stay as well," she added.

"I'm just coming for the free pool," chuckled Morgan. He shared a look with the girls and they all knew the real reason and it had nothing to do with the pool, but instead with their genius who was currently struggling into the tall truck, balancing on one foot. Morgan abandoned the chair and helped Reid in.

"I'll just take this back," Morgan said, leaning against the chair and pushing it back to the hospital, gaining speed and letting the chair do a wheelie. Reid grinned at him, settling in his seat.

"Oh, and Spence?"

"Hmm."

"Don't mention books to Rossi just yet; you've filled one on his spare bedrooms with boxes and boxes of books and I think he's a bit touchy on the subject," Reid laughed again, imagining Rossi's reaction to finding his books taking up a whole room.

* * *

When they got to Rossi's 'mansion', Hotch and Rossi were waiting in the front room, with a glass of scotch each.

"Has the party already started?" Morgan pouted, helping Spencer into the comfiest armchair.

"I'm just preparing for Garcia and your presence," he snickered taking a big swig. "I think I'm gonna need some more of this," he added, refilling scotch his glass. Spencer laughed along with the others.

"You won't be laughing when I let Clooney sleep on the couch."

"You wouldn't dare," the Italian gasped.

"Try me!" Morgan stepped over to the drinks cabinet to pour himself, but Rossi whistled. The Labrador by Rossi's feet lifted his head, his eyes narrowing on Morgan. The dog was about to get up when Morgan backed away quickly.

"Only Menchie gets to sleep on the couch and that's when I'm in a good mood," Rossi warned.

Reid shook his head as he chuckled, watching the two agents argue comically. He'd felt a little empty since his mother and father had left. Diana had to go back to Benningtons, but he hadn't expected his father to go back so soon after his mother.

William had a big case coming up and although the team were angry that he was willing to just leave like that, Reid understood that his father had built a whole new life as he had done himself; Reid wasn't about to give up his life as a profiler so he didn't expect his father to give up his life. Spencer had hoped his father would stay a little longer as it had been so long since they had seen each other in person, but William had promised to visit now that James was no longer a threat.

Spencer was snapped out of his thoughts when Garcia nudged his shoulder with a tin. He blinked and looked up at her.

"Want one?" She asked through a mouthful of cookie. She shook the tin full of delicacies and he grinned taking an odd shaped one. He remembered when Garcia made cookies for Hotch after _he_ was stabbed, he smiled at the thought that he had finally hit cookie status.

Reid took a bite of his cookie and it crumbled in his mouth. It tasted so much better than the bland hospital food which had seemed like heaven after the dirty sandwiches James had fed him. He glanced at his hand and found only crumbs where the cookie had been. Luckily the tin had been passed around and was now in his lap again.

"Was the food that bad?" Rossi chuckled as Spencer picked out another cookie.

"No, b-"

"But nothing beats my cooking," Garcia finished for him.

"I think I could give you a good run for your money," winked the Italian.

"Italian food is different. It's more like a religion than a skill," she laughed. Spencer took a bite of his new cookie and was once again overwhelmed with its euphoric taste.

"So...are you ready to talk?" Reid glanced up at Morgan, his mouth full of cookie. He chewed slowly and swallowed.

"Um..."

"It helps," Hotch said. Reid suddenly felt all of their eyes on him. He suddenly lost his appetite and set the cookie down on the arm of the chair. It wasn't that he didn't want to tell them, in fact, he wanted to talk. He just didn't want to relieve it.

"Um...W-where shall I start?" He asked anxiously, he noticed the relief that passed his team's face.

"Wherever you want." But that didn't help Spencer so Hotch said: "at the beginning."

"Okay..."

 _Spencer walked into his apartment and sighed with relief. He placed his messenger down on the counter and picked up the book he'd left there that morning. His eyes danced along the pages as he brewed himself some coffee. He was ready for a weekend to unwind. He had a small pile of books by the door that he planned on devouring with the company of sugar drowned coffee._

 _He set his mug down beside the sugar, his eyes still scanning the pages as he dropped spoon after spoon of his dwindling supply of sugar into the dark liquid. His gun dug into his side as he lent over to put the sugar back. He unholstered the weapon, setting it beside his coffee. He planned on putting it away as soon as he finished the chapter. A chapter turned into two, which turned into three and he finally sat on his couch, admitting defeat and deciding to finish the whole book._

 _He didn't notice the mess of broken pictures beside his bookcase. A picture of his mother lay smashed right beside his socked feet as he read diligently. It was only the creak of floorboards that tore his eyes from the pages._

 _He glanced around his apartment, frowning. He put his mug on the coffee table and abandoned his book. He stood and an intense pain shot up his foot. He looked down and found the smashed photo frame with his mother's smile beneath it. He hopped on his one foot, pulling out the glass and hissing as blood dripped from the hole in one of his favourite socks and onto the picture of his mother's. Her face became bathed it red, distorting her happy features to something almost demonic as if she were smiling at his pain. It reminded him of a developing photo in a dark room._

 _As if he had thought it aloud, the light went out sending the room into darkness. Spencer limped to a standing position, gazing around and then he saw him; the dark figure stood beside his light switch, turning the key in the lock and smiling at him._

 _He knew it was James. A person could conceivably forget the face of their brother after so long, but one cannot forget the face that stares back at them in the mirror. And luckily for Spencer he remembered everything; every malicious grin, every taunt, every bruise._

 _Spencer stumbled back, his body quivering with fear._

 _"It's good to see you haven't changed," came a gruff voice of his reflection._

 _"What are you doing here?" Spencer said, trying to make his voice sound stronger than it felt._

 _"You know this day was coming. You stole my life. It's time for you to understand what that feels like."_

 _Spencer didn't hesitate he sprinted for the counter, ignoring the shocks of pain each step sent through his foot. James was quick. He had always been quicker. Spencer felt his brothers hand yanking him back and he felt himself colliding with the floor. He tried to get up, but a swift kick knocked him back down._

 _"You always were weak!" James laughed, kicking his brothers face sharply. Spencer grabbed his leg and held on, pulling himself partway up. James shoved him away and he smacked into the wall, his head cracking painfully against it. James grabbed his hair, pressing his body against Spencer's so he couldn't move. He proceeded to use Spencer's head as a battering ram against the wall. Spencer struggled, but after the second hit he grew more exhausted. His eyelids fluttered and his body grew limp._

 _"I'm going to make you pay." That was the last thing Spencer heard in the presence of light, which had shone through the window by the light of the moon. The next light he felt was artificial and came from James' torch, offering no comfort to him in the long hours of darkness that became his life for the next two weeks and a half._

Spencer shook his head, trying to control his breathing as he recalled the darkness; he couldn't go back, he just couldn't.

"I don't want to be telling this story anymore," he whimpered, looking up at his team who were also trying to hold themselves together. It was all too fresh for him.

"Tell a different one then," Emily said soothingly.

"Like what?"

"Well considering we didn't know you had a twin, you must have a load of things you haven't told us that you've had up in that head of yours." Spencer bit his gum, thinking for a minute. Most of his memories were bad ones.

"Um...well you might not believe this, but you know how some people say there is some kind of supernatural connection between twins?" Laughter and groans filled the room.

"This ain't gonna be like your theory on evil twin, eviler twin?", Morgan chuckled, rolling his eyes. Reid cracked a smile and shook his head.

"I know it sounds crazy; it makes no logical sense to me either. Science can't explain-"

"Come on then, science guy, don't leave us hanging," Garcia cut in, eager to hear the story.

"Right, sorry..."

 _Spencer lay on his front on the floor writing on a piece of paper in blue pencil, his little legs kicking the air gently. He bit the pencil and grinned when the answer came to him. He quickly finished the long multiplication before starting on the long division beneath it. That was when he felt a sense of dread surge through the him. His hands suddenly tingled and he frowned, dropping his pencil._

 _He looked up to see his parents reading books. William would point something out to Diana every once in a while and she would grin._

 _He realised James wasn't playing with his truck anymore. Spencer glanced around for his brother, the strange feeling growing stronger. He walked to the sink and jumped up to look out of the window. The sun was beginning to go down, but he couldn't get a good enough view of the garden._

 _He decided to investigate and toddled over to the door, standing on his tippy toes to reach the door handle._

 _As soon as he opened the door he heard someone calling out. His feeling of dread skyrocketed._

 _"Help!"_

 _Spencer looked up at the big tree in the corner of the garden and found his brother clinging to a branch his legs dangling down._

 _"James!" He cried, he rushed to the tree and gasped up. Although the branch he clung to was only around 6 feet from the ground, to two four-year-olds it was a life or death situation._

 _"H-help me!" James cried, sobbing in panic. Spencer darted back toward the house and called his father._

 _"Daddy! Help James! He's stuck in the tree!" He called. William threw his book to the ground and sprinted over. He and Spencer made it out of the doorway just as James slipped and crashed out of the tree, landing painfully on his front into the dry grass. James gasped as the air left him. Spencer also felt slightly winded, he could only watch his father scooped up his brother, rubbing soothing circles into his back as he rasped and cried._

 _James had blamed Spencer in the hospital. No one believed him of course because Spencer just oozed innocence. Though he apologised to James countless times. Williams had to pull him aside and tell him that he couldn't have done anything, besides James shouldn't have been climbing trees._

 _After that Spencer had read numerous books on twins, seeking answers for what he'd felt._

I still don't understand it," Spencer shrugged.

"Sometimes people just get feelings when their loved ones are in danger. I get it with Henry," JJ reassured him. Hotch looked away guiltily; they hadn't had that feeling when James took Reid.

"That's weird, Spence," Marvelled Garcia.

"Okay, Let's give the kid a break. How about one of you lot tell us a story?" Rossi eyed his team and they all shyed away from him.

"Oooo I have one!" Garcia put her hand in the air eagerly.

"Anyone else?" Rossi asked hopefully, but it was too late; Garcia had already opened her mouth.

* * *

 **That may be it guys! Like I said there will most likely be a sequel, but I might end this story here.**

 **Thank you guys so much for all of your support through this story! I loved every part of it, wringing it, suturing and be more importantly reading all your wonderful reviews!**

 **THANK YOU!**


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